Proven: Pomegranate Juice Benefits Pregnant Women
A study of 78 pregnant women: daily pomegranate juice improves brain development and blood flow in babies at risk of intrauterine growth restriction.
A study of 78 pregnant women: daily pomegranate juice improves brain development and blood flow in babies at risk of intrauterine growth restriction.
If a woman regularly drinks pomegranate juice during pregnancy, this has a positive effect on the brain development of her child in the context of intrauterine growth restriction. This condition is characterized by gestational timing being preserved, but the fetus being smaller than expected. At birth, infants with this syndrome weigh less than 2.5 kilograms.
This is often caused by problems with the placenta, through which the fetus receives oxygen and nutrients. The birth process itself can further reduce the flow of blood or oxygen, including to the baby's brain. In extreme cases this leads to hypoxic-ischemic damage to nerve cells and death.
Pomegranate juice is known to be rich in polyphenols (it contains tannic acid and ellagitannins). These compounds, as earlier studies have shown, protect the brain against degenerative diseases. This very fact prompted scientists to test pomegranate juice on pregnant women.
For the experiment, 78 women between 24 and 43 weeks of pregnancy were selected. Fifty percent of them drank nearly 250 milliliters of the juice each day, while the rest drank a placebo beverage. After birth, the scientists examined the brain condition of children from both groups of women. Structural differences in the white matter and in the functional connectivity of neurons overall were identified. Women who drank the juice gave birth to children with more developed brains and more active cerebral blood flow.
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