Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Granada is the pomegranate, the fruit of the tree Punica granatum. In Latin America people eat the red seed sacs, drink the juice, and brew the dried peel. The flowers and peel were also used as a mouth rinse.
Today it is sold as juice, capsules and peel extracts, mostly for heart and blood pressure support. One part of the plant is not food: the root and stem bark can poison you. Long traditional use is not proof that a remedy works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
The honest verdict: human evidence is thin and mixed. Small, short trials hint at a small drop in blood pressure. The fruit itself is an ordinary food and suits most people.
Most of what we know about how granada acts comes from lab work, not from people.
In test tubes, its tannins (plant compounds called punicalagins) soak up free radicals. Gut bacteria turn these tannins into substances called urolithins. Urolithins are studied in cells for effects on inflammation and ageing.
In animal studies, pomegranate extracts appear to calm inflammation in blood vessels. In small human trials, blood pressure dropped by a few points. Why that happens is not settled.
In laboratory tests, peel extracts slow the growth of some gut and mouth bacteria. Whether that helps loose stools or sore gums in people is not known.
People differ in which gut bacteria they carry. So two people can drink the same juice and make very different amounts of urolithins. That may be one reason trial results clash.
Granada is sold mainly as juice and as capsules of fruit or peel extract.
Common forms: - fresh fruit and arils (the juicy seed sacs) - bottled juice, pressed or from concentrate - powdered extracts standardised to punicalagins - capsules and tablets - seed oil, used on the skin - dried peel, brewed as a home tea
Extract strength varies a lot between brands. Many labels do not say how much punicalagin is inside. A good label names the plant part and the amount.
Root and stem bark preparations still appear in some folk remedies. This page gives no method for them. They are not safe to make at home.
Pomegranate came to the Americas with Spanish settlers in the 1500s. It spread through Mexico, Peru and the Andes. Home gardens kept it going for centuries.
In Latin American home tradition, the peel was boiled for gargles and for loose stools. Flower brews were used for sore gums. The fruit stood for abundance at feasts and on holiday tables.
Older medical books also listed the root bark to expel worms. That use was dropped once safer drugs arrived and poisonings were reported.
Call emergency services if the lips, tongue or throat swell, or breathing gets hard. That is a severe allergic reaction.
Get urgent care if someone has swallowed a root or bark brew. Warning signs are repeated vomiting, cramps, dizziness, blurred vision and collapse.
See your doctor soon if you notice: - easy bruising, nosebleeds or blood in the stool while on a blood thinner - muscle pain, weakness or dark urine while on a statin - dizziness or fainting when you stand up - diarrhoea that lasts more than two days, or comes with fever or blood
In the United States, the European Union and across Latin America, pomegranate is an ordinary food. Juice, capsules and oils are sold as foods or supplements, not as approved medicines. Health claims on packs are limited by law, and no regulator has approved it to treat any disease.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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