Health
As you know, pomegranate fruits, commonly called pomegranates, contain a lot of useful substances, including vitamins A, C, E and B, potassium, calcium, iron, iodine, and so on. No less useful are, according to many people, pomegranate juice and pomegranate seed oil, which supposedly has an effect on the human body that slows down aging (in particular, reduces the amount of and the intensity of symptoms when menopause occurs in women). However, a recent study investigating the beneficial properties of this oil found no evidence that pomegranate seed oil in any way It reduces the intensity of menopausal symptoms, in particular, on hot flashes that cause a sharp increase in temperature.
It was believed that since pomegranate fruits contain so-called phytoestrogens (hormonal regulators of plant origin), this would affect estrogen levels in the female body. Moreover, many considered this product to be a real alternative to existing drugs that are offered by official medicine. However, women who consumed a certain amount of pomegranate seed oil as part of the study experienced no more relief than other participants who took a placebo (harmless and a useless drug substitute, which was ordinary sunflower oil).
“Just as when we studied the effects of many other herbal medicines, we found no evidence that pomegranate seed oil is an effective way to reduce the intensity of menopausal symptoms, “said Dr. Silvina Levis from the Miller Medical School at the University of Miami (University of Miami) Miami Miller School of Medicine, Florida, United States of America. It is reported that previous studies that investigated the effect of soy supplements and meadow clover extract (also containing phytoestrogens) on the intensity of symptoms menopause also did not reveal any evidence of effectiveness.
As you know, approximately 85 percent of menopausal women experience specific symptoms associated with this age every day — a feeling of fever, often accompanied by excessive heat sweating, heart palpitations, increased anxiety. 81 participated in the study of the healing properties of pomegranate seed oil, led by Dr. Leo Auerbach from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria menopausal woman – from 45 to 60 years old. Each of these women complained that her body temperature rises sharply, at least five times a day, and these symptoms last for at least 12 months.
Each of the participants in the experiment kept a daily diary, which recorded all cases of menopausal symptoms. Women also took one 30-milligram capsule daily containing pomegranate seed oil. However, some women were intentionally given capsules filled with ordinary sunflower oil — the so-called placebo — which, of course, the participants in the experiment could not know about. The experiment itself lasted two weeks. At the very beginning of the experiment and at its end, the researchers took appropriate tests from women for the levels of certain hormones. It is worth mentioning that women were divided into two groups not by chance: the first group, which was given capsules with pomegranate seed oil, included women with a recurrence of menopausal symptoms ( At the beginning of the study, there was an average of 11 fever times a day; the placebo group included women who had an average of 10 fever times a day.
After 12 weeks, women who took pomegranate seed oil had a decrease in symptoms per day by about 39 percent; at the same time, women who took pomegranate seed oil had a decrease in symptoms per day; at the same time, women who took sunflower oil also noted a decrease in the number of menopausal symptoms. In this group, the fall was, on average, 26 per cent. And although women in both groups experienced relief in reducing the number of recurrences of menopausal symptoms, the 13 percent difference between the two groups, according to experts, was too much insignificant to recognize the healing effect of pomegranate seed oil.
Scientists attribute the overall improvement in the well-being of women from both groups only to the so-called placebo effect, when the patient is treated not by a drug, but by his own belief in the effectiveness of this drug. Thus, the decrease in the number of menopausal symptoms in participants in the experiment is the result of psychological changes caused by faith in the effectiveness of the new drug, Aerbach notes. It is noteworthy that in women from both groups, at the end of the experiment, the hormonal level practically did not change. But there is also good news for those who are ready to protect the beneficial properties of pomegranate oil — women who have been taking this oil for 12 weeks have significantly improved sleep.