Pomegranate juice isn’t just a tasty drink—it may actually be good for your heart and overall health. Several studies have shown that drinking it regularly can improve blood pressure,  while other studies show it lowers stress hormones, and even helps clear plaque from your arteries.

What Did the Studies Show?

One study, done by Tsang and colleagues in 2012, gave people either 500 ml of pomegranate juice or a placebo drink that didn’t have the same healthy ingredients. The people who drank the real pomegranate juice had better results in many areas:

• Lower blood pressure
• Healthier levels of stress hormones (like cortisol)
• Better insulin levels (important for blood sugar control)
• Improved artery flexibility (measured by something called pulse wave velocity)

These are all good signs for reducing the risk of heart disease and other health problems.

Pomegranate Juice and Artery Health

Another exciting finding is that pomegranate juice may actually reduce plaque in the arteries. Plaque is a fatty buildup that can clog your arteries and lead to heart attacks or strokes. Right now, doctors usually use medications like cholesterol-lowering statins, which generally slow plaque progression but do not reverse it. Also, stents or surgery are used to deal with serious plaque, but carry the risk of stroke.

Two studies looked at whether pomegranate juice could help with plaque of the carotid arteries (main arteries in the neck feeding the brain).

1. Study #1 (Aviram et al., 2004)
   
   • 19 older adults (ages 65–75) with serious plaque buildup in their neck arteries joined the study.
   • 10 of them drank just 50 ml (less than 2 ounces) of pomegranate juice a day.
   • After 1 year, those drinking pomegranate juice had 35% less plaque, while the others had 9% more plaque than when they started.
   • Their blood pressure also dropped by 12%.
2. Study #2 (Davidson et al., 2009)
   
   • Over 280 people with some plaque buildup (but not as serious) joined this longer 18-month study.
   • Half drank 240 ml of pomegranate juice each day, and the other half got a placebo.
   • In people with the worst cholesterol levels, the juice helped slow down how fast the plaque was growing.

Why Is This Important?

Right now, there’s no medicine proven to remove plaque once it’s already there. That makes the results of these studies really interesting. Pomegranate juice might be a simple, safe way to support blood vessel and heart health.

So, Should You Drink It?

The good news is that the amount used in these studies wasn’t huge—between 50 and 500 ml per day (that’s about 1.7 to 17 ounces). And since pomegranate juice is easy to find and drink, it might be worth including as part of a healthy lifestyle—especially for people at risk of heart disease.

Final Thoughts

Pomegranate juice isn’t a miracle cure, but early research shows it may help reduce blood pressure, stress hormones, and even artery plaque. That’s a big deal, especially since many current treatments can’t do that. More research is needed, but for now, adding a little pomegranate juice to your day could be a smart and tasty choice.

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References

Aviram, M., Rosenblat, M., Gaitini, D., Nitecki, S., Hoffman, A., Dornfeld, L., Volkova, N., Presser, D., Attias, J., Liker, H., & Hayek, T. (2004). Pomegranate juice consumption for 3 years by patients with carotid artery stenosis reduces common carotid intima-media thickness, blood pressure and LDL oxidation. Clinical Nutrition 23(3), 423–433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2003.10.002 

Davidson, M. H., Maki, K. C., Dicklin, M. R., Feinstein, S. B., Witchger, M., Bell, M., McGuire, D. K., Provost, J. C., Liker, H., & Aviram, M. (2009). Effects of consumption of pomegranate juice on carotid intima-media thickness in men and women at moderate risk for coronary heart disease. The American journal of cardiology, 104(7), 936–942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjcard.2009.05.037 

Tsang, C., Smail, N. F., Almoosawi, S., Davidson, I., & Al-Dujaili, E. A. (2012). Intake of polyphenol-rich pomegranate pure juice influences urinary glucocorticoids, blood pressure and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance in human volunteers. Journal of Nutritional Science, 1, e9. https://doi.org/10.1017/jns.2012.10 

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