Picture the scene – you’ve got a busy working day ahead of you, and you know you need to eat at some point, while making sure to get one of your five-a-day. In case you feel the need to skip breakfast for one reason or another, drinking pomegranate juice on an empty stomach might just be enough to get you through the morning.
No person can live off fruit juice alone during the day – any healthy diet is like trying to balance an array of spinning plates. In an ideal world, you would hope to stay hydrated and able to fit those five-a-day into at least three square meals, with food that offers all the vitamins and minerals you need.
Consuming pomegranate juice might not be the cure to all your problems, but a glass a day could make a significant difference to your overall health. Let’s explore those pomegranate juice empty stomach benefits.
Pomegranate Juice Aids Digestion
Skipping breakfast for a glass of pomegranate juice might make you guilty. You might notice your tummy beginning to grumble, but even just a little bit of this juice has a whole host of health benefits, even if it’s just once a day, especially with regards to digestion.
That’s because the juice of the pomegranate fruit contains a number of bioactive compounds, including anthocyacins and phenolic compounds, plus a little thing called ascorbic acid, otherwise known as Vitamin C. Vitamin C is known as an essential vitamin, and having a good source of it in your diet helps fend off and treat things such as scurvy.
A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in 2002 highlighted the importance of pomegranate juice for digestion, revealing that the juice contained high levels of phenolic compounds, at a rate of 29 per cent, during digestion. Phenolic compounds are integral to a well-balanced diet, as they have long been known to possess great properties as an antioxidant, with especial benefits as an anti-inflammatory biochemical.
Pomegranate Juice is Fast-acting
Just a glass of pomegranate juice a day can make all the difference. By this, we mean that it is fast-acting as a nutritional supplement. The juice’s richness in Vitamin C helps boost the production of antibodies in your bloodstream, acting as something of a much-needed reinforcer for your body’s immune system in its everyday fight against pathogens that could do damage to your body.
Imagine your antibodies as being like soldiers on the front line, needing all the help they can get, to keep you in the best of health.
These antibodies need constant replenishment, so a top-up of much-needed Vitamin C goes a long way towards not only ensuring a healthier gut, but the increased likelihood of a stronger immune system. This makes your body more capable of repelling infections. Imagine all those days you lose to the common cold or the flu? Just a glass of pomegranate juice could make all the difference.
Those Antioxidants Work Wonders
Antioxidants are one of nature’s greatest defence mechanisms, delaying the process of oxidation, which has the effect of holding harmful free radicals at bay. Without antioxidants, those free radicals would play havoc with your body, producing chemical reactions which would damage cells in your body.
Just in case you’re wondering what specific pomegranate digestion benefits make it stand out from other purported health drinks in this field, consider this: In 2009, a study published in the journal Nutrition Reviews, which looked into the juice’s digestive health benefits, revealed that commercial brands of the juice displayed antioxidant activity three times higher than that noticed after consuming red wine and green tea.
The Answer to Better Digestive Health?
Yes, pomegranate juice is an answer to better digestive health, but it’s important to point out that it’s not the only answer. It’s always important to remember that pomegranates are just one of the many fruits you can include to your diet, as part of your regular five-a-day. Pomegranate juice is helpful, but only when consumed as part of a varied diet, and should never be assumed to be that single silver bullet. If only dietary health were so simple.
This is simply because pomegranate juice can only do so much for your body, and like most things you eat or drink, it should be consumed in moderation. For one thing, most fruit juices contain sugars, and are usually acidic. Pomegranate juice in large amounts might upset your stomach’s delicate acidity balance, causing issues like heartburn.
You should also keep an eye on the sugar content of your pomegranate juice. The last thing you would want is an excessively sugary brand of pomegranate juice, that gives you a short-term boost, before it burns off and your blood sugar level falls again.
See pomegranate juice as something to tide you over until the next meal during the day. As with all matters related to digestion, your stomach is one of the most sensitive organs in your body, and you should know when you’ve had the vital nutrients you need to get you through the day. Pomegranate juice has many tangible benefits to your digestion, but in order to really feel the change, you need to be eating the right things, to begin with.
If you’re curious to learn more about the juice from this unusual and incredible fruit, take a look at some of our other pieces of content on the subject, to give you a full overview of the qualities that make pomegranates something of a superfruit. It’s has been a part of the human diet for generations for a good reason, and could be just the thing to bring you one step closer to that balanced diet you’ve been striving for.
Drinking Pomegranate Juice on an Empty Stomach – Does It Work?
