Pomegranate is supposed to do all sorts of things from lowering blood pressure to improving hemoglobin to raising testosterone, etc. I expect that at the doses one would get from eating the fresh fruit, there would be minimal impact. Pomegranate is loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. They are actually quite tasty as well. My take would be to enjoy them in reasonable amounts if you are so inclined. If you see a mysterious spike in HCT you an always back off.
I've no idea, but as they are a very tasty fruit, I can only say that eating them would be beneficial. I know that they are rich in antioxidants and fibre.
I keep pomegranate seeds in my freezer, as I like them in my salads and eat them a few times a week.
I have PV and haven't experienced any crazy hikes in my HCT.
There was a link posted here some months ago (by EPGuy?) to a paper published in 2015 on the JAK2 inhibitory properties of various foodstuffs. Interestingly pomegranate came out tops followed by strawberry and blackberry. It doesn't specifically refer to haematocrit but the implication could be that if certain foodstuffs inhibit or reduce the unhelpful effects of the gene mutation then we could assume that it would improve blood counts. I think this whole area of foodstuffs is one of interest and the medics in the USA seem more interested in this (e.g. Angela Fleischman, Carolyn Katzin etc.) than in the UK. I am actually planning to raise this in my clinic discussion this morning (I'm in the UK) to see what they say.
As always, we have to be careful with foodstuffs due to potential interaction with drugs we're taking and it's a good idea to discuss with your haematology team before changing anything. I'm taking a small glass of pomegranate juice daily (as well as half a grapefruit) with strawberries and sometimes blackberries (the pips get stuck in my teeth!) with my breakfast cereal. Too early to say if there's a long term beneficial impact and I occasionally weaken and have toast instead.
I used to hate them until I went on the autoimmune paleo diet, where My body was cleared of almost all carbs/sugars. Now pomegranates taste sweet, so does super dark chocolate, white grapefruit and lemons. Ive had the poison out of my body for almost 5 years! 😀
I began taking pomegranate extract daily and my numbers are looking better than they have in 3 years. My hematologist said to keep taking it. Who knows if the pomegranate is responsible or if this is just the normal fluctuations of PV, but both of us were surprised to see my hematocrit and WBC have normalized over the last three months.
I'm not going to get too excited until we see a longer trend line, but I am in a lovely mood since yesterdays labs and consultation. It was nice to finally see the numbers not gradually rising as they have been since August 2019.
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