Styling itself “the anti-oxidant superpower,” POM Wonderful makes sweeping claims as to its health effects, for which it credits its main ingredient, polyphenol, found in the pomegranate plant. Here are some lesser-known facts about the high-priced beverage:
The product’s website, www.pomwonderful.com is quick to tout their beverage’s health benefit. They cite several scholarly studies claiming pomegranate juice can help prevent cancer, slows aging and improves blood circulation. A lot of the studies showing health benefits to pomegranate juice, however, used mice as experimental subjects: scientists dispute whether these effects transfer to humans. Also, the scientific jury is still out on the actual mechanism of aging.
Since growth in soft drink sales has fizzled in recent years, caused a global increase in the health risks surrounding them, manufacturers are looking to non-carbonated drinks for growth. Marketers, have dubbed these “New Age non-carbonated beverages.” They range from energy drinks, to fruit drinks such as SoBe, dairy products including drinkable yoghurts, and bottled teas. Marketresearch.com reckons such products raked in $3.4 billion in sales last year.
Packaging Digest noted the look of the bottle echoes that of a pomegranate, including the fruit’s distinctive crown, which forms the bottle’s neck. But nice design comes at a cost: retailing at $4.99 for 473 milliliters at selected grocery stores, pomegranate juice is expensive – it costs $10.55 per liter, compared to a liter of Tropicana orange juice, which goes for $2.10.
The packaging does not state anywhere, however, how much of the prized polyphenol anti-oxidants each bottle contains. And the nutrition facts are not that rosy either: a bottle contains 280 calories and 68 grams of sugar. A can of Coke, by comparison, contains 180 calories and 42 grams of sugar.
