Pomegranate fruits are about the size of an apple and grow on a small bush or tree no more than a few yards tall. The pomegranate is native to the regions of Iran, parts of India, and the Mediterranean. However, the healing and nutritional benefits, which were discovered centuries ago, has resulted in the harves
ting of pomegranate in almost all regions of the world. First it had spread across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the rest of the Mediterranean. However, it didn't reach the soils of the Americas till the 1700's when it was brought over by Spanish settlers.
Removing the skin of the fruit reveals hundreds of seeds, the seeds are what most people actually eat, or process into a juice, and used as the essnetial ingredient in many popular dishes. They are sweet, tangy, and sometimes mildly sour. The use of pomegranate seeds and pomegranate juice is widely popular in other parts of the world, but it wasn't until the last decade that the pomegranate has caught on in the United States.
Pomegranate popularity has grown exponentially due to it's numerous health benefits. Pomegranate is loaded with antioxidants which aid the body in eliminating free radicals. In addition, pomegranate contains a great quantity of vitamins A, B, C, and E, 100% recommended daily allowance (RDA) of folic acid, and 13% RDA of potassium.
The one downfall of pomegranate is that it is extremely high in sugar, which slightly counteracts the weight loss benefits of the fruit. However, most pomegranate supplements extract a large majority of the sugar during processing to improve the weight loss benefits. This is the very reason why pomegranate supplements are often preferred over drinking pomegranate juice.