Pomegranate Nutrition and Health Benefits

Pomegranate benefits are easiest to judge when you separate the edible arils, bottled juice and supplements. A study using one doesn’t automatically describe the others.

The sweet-tart arils contain juicy tissue around an inner seed. You can eat them as a topping or snack. Their preparation takes a little work, but you don’t need an extract to include the fruit in meals.

Pomegranate nutrition facts

The USDA raw-fruit record describes edible arils. Its half-cup serving weighs 3.1 oz (87 g), excluding rind and membranes.

Source: USDA FoodData Central: Pomegranates, raw (FDC ID 169134); official SR Legacy download. % Daily Value (DV) uses FDA values for a 2,000-calorie diet.

Total sugar is included within total carbohydrate. If you track carbohydrate for diabetes, use the carbohydrate row and your own meal plan rather than treating the fruit’s sugar as a separate extra amount.

Pomegranate juice vs arils

Arils are the clearer choice when you want fiber. Bottled juice can supply potassium, but it isn’t a nutritional duplicate of whole arils.

Source: USDA FoodData Central: Pomegranate juice, bottled (FDC 167787). % Daily Value (DV) uses FDA values for a 2,000-calorie diet.

This second USDA record is bottled pomegranate juice, with a cup weighing 8.8 oz (249 g). It isn’t the same as a measured cup of arils or a pomegranate-flavored drink.

Per 3.5 oz (100 g), the raw fruit record has 4 g fiber versus 0.1 g in bottled juice. A cup of this juice provides about 134 calories, 31 g total sugars and only 0.2 g fiber.

Use the current label for the bottle you buy. Blends, sweetened drinks and fortified products can differ. “No added sugar” doesn’t mean a juice contains no natural sugar.

Pomegranate benefits: what is supported?

Measured food nutrients support everyday dietary use. Blood pressure research is promising but narrower than many product claims.

Arils contribute dietary fiber Strong evidence

A half cup provides about 3.5 g fiber. NIDDK recommends adequate dietary fiber and gradual increases for bowel health.

Choose arils over strained juice when this is your goal. They can contribute alongside beans, vegetables and whole grains, without requiring you to eat a large bowl at once.

Provides vitamin C and folate Strong evidence

A half cup of arils supplies about 9 mg vitamin C and 33 mcg folate. These are useful contributions rather than unusually large doses.

NIH ODS describes vitamin C’s role in collagen formation and folate’s role in making genetic material and cell division. Eating this fruit doesn’t replace a prescribed supplement or pregnancy-related folic acid advice.

Juice has limited human blood pressure evidence Moderate evidence

Sohrab and colleagues’ 2019 trial randomized 60 adults with type 2 diabetes to daily juice or a control group for six weeks. The researchers reported lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure with juice.

There were no significant between-group differences in the measured cholesterol and triglyceride outcomes at the end. The abstract describes the control group as receiving no intervention, despite also calling the study placebo-controlled. That limits how confidently we interpret the result.

This short trial doesn’t establish fewer heart attacks or a replacement for blood pressure medicine. It also doesn’t show that a handful of arils produces the same result.

Who should be careful with pomegranate?

Medicine use matters most when you plan to start a regular juice habit or a concentrated product. Get advice for the exact drug and product.

The interaction evidence needs careful wording. A 2009 warfarin case report and a 2006 report involving rosuvastatin warrant attention, but case reports can’t prove cause or tell us how often a problem occurs.

In contrast, a small controlled study by Misaka and colleagues found no significant change in the handling of midazolam after two weeks of juice consumption. That single-drug result doesn’t clear every medication, but it shows why laboratory enzyme findings shouldn’t be presented as a guaranteed human interaction.

Don’t stop prescribed medicine or substitute an extract. Tell your pharmacist the brand, ingredients, amount and frequency you intend to use so the advice can be specific.

How to cut a pomegranate

Score the rind and separate the sections along the internal membranes. This releases arils while reducing unnecessary crushing.

1. Wash the whole fruit. Use running water and a clean cutting board.
2. Open the top carefully. Keep the fruit stable and your fingers away from the blade.
3. Look for membrane divisions. Score the rind along them rather than chopping deeply through the arils.
4. Pull the sections apart. Release the arils into a clean bowl.
5. Remove rind and membrane. Check the portion for damaged or spoiled arils.

UC Master Food Preserver describes this scoring-and-separating approach. Work over a bowl or washable surface because juice can splash. Wear an apron if you’re concerned about stains.

The crunchy inner seed is part of the aril portion used in the raw-food table. Straining it out changes what you eat and reduces the relevance of that table.

How to store and serve the arils

Refrigerate prepared arils promptly in a clean, covered container. Follow the use-by and after-opening instructions for packaged arils or juice.

FoodSafety.gov recommends refrigeration at 40°F (4°C) or below. Perishable foods should be refrigerated within two hours, or within one hour above 90°F (32°C).

For freezing, spread prepared arils in a single layer before packing them into a suitable freezer container. UC Master Food Preserver describes this method to keep them easier to portion.

Try a small spoonful over a suitable yogurt, oatmeal or salad. A measured topping can be easier to use than eating an entire fruit’s yield at once.

Which pomegranate product is worth choosing?

Choose arils for texture and fiber, and juice when you specifically want a drink. There isn’t a proven need for an extract to get the food’s everyday value.

For a supplement, a number of milligrams doesn’t establish equivalence to the juice used in a trial. Extraction and standardization can change which compounds are present. Our editorial policy keeps food and supplement evidence separate.

Explore more fruit guides.

How to choose, open and store pomegranates

In the US, fresh pomegranates are in season from about September to January, with most coming from California. Outside those months, you’ll find imported fruit and ready-to-eat arils in the refrigerated produce section.

• Choosing: pick a fruit that feels heavy for its size, which means it’s full of juice. The skin should be firm and taut, deep red to reddish-brown, with no soft spots. The shape becomes slightly angular rather than perfectly round as it ripens. Small scratches on the skin don’t affect the inside.
• Opening without the mess: score around the middle with a knife without cutting too deep, pull the two halves apart, then submerge them in a bowl of water and break the fruit apart with your fingers. The arils sink while the white pith floats, so you can skim it off and drain the seeds.
• The quick method: hold a pomegranate half cut-side down over a bowl and tap the back firmly with a wooden spoon until the arils fall out.
• Storing whole fruit: whole pomegranates keep for a week or two at room temperature and up to two months in the refrigerator.
• Storing arils: keep them in a covered container in the fridge for about five days, or freeze them in a single layer on a tray, then transfer them to a bag. Frozen arils keep for several months and work well in smoothies.

The arils are the edible part, and you can eat the small seeds inside them; they add fiber and crunch. The white pith and the skin are bitter and aren’t eaten.

Pomegranate arils are easy to add to everyday meals: sprinkle them over salads, yogurt, oatmeal or roasted vegetables, stir them into grain bowls, or use them to garnish Middle Eastern dishes such as hummus and lamb. Pomegranate molasses, a thick reduced juice, adds tangy flavor to dressings and marinades, though it’s concentrated in sugar, so a little goes a long way.

Pomegranate juice stains clothes, wooden boards and countertops, so wear an apron and work on a plastic cutting board.

More guides you may find useful: açaí berries.

Pomegranate FAQ