Pomegranate fruit juice – a top super food

Supermarkets can’t keep pomegranate juices in stock.
Farmers can’t grow the fruits fast enough.

They are everywhere — in shampoo, on lobster dinners, in beer, even on Christmas wreathes.

Companies rolled out 450 products this year featuring the ruby-seeded fruit, bringing the total to 961 products launched since 2003, according to the Mintel International Group, a market research firm.

Rival Dunkin’ Donuts wanted to launch a pomegranate smoothie this year, but the Canton chain feared the fruit’s short supply would be a problem.

“The pomegranate really did come out of nowhere,” said Tom Vierhile, director of Productscan Online, a market research group in Naples, Fla.

“Clearly, pomegranate has staked a claim in the market as the top superfruit of the year.”

Americans’ interest in pomegranates was spurred first by health studies in 2002 promoting the fruit as rich in antioxidants, a class of compounds that are thought to help prevent cancer and strokes.

At the same time, Pom Wonderful, a Los Angeles company that helped fund the studies, introduced stylishly bottled pomegranate juice in supermarkets.

The studies gave the fruit instant currency among health-conscious Americans, especially baby boomers, and boosted the awareness.

Marketers quickly crowned the pomegranate as the latest in a new line of nutrient-dense “super foods,” following cranberries, blueberries, and green tea, among others.

Pomegranate now a power fruit (Philadelphia Daily News)

Supermarkets can’t keep pomegranate juices in stock. Farmers can’t grow the fruits fast enough. They are everywhere — in shampoo, on lobster dinners, in beer, even on Christmas wreathes.

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