The Effect of Pomegranate on Fasting Glycemia and Hyperglycemia Markers: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The beneficial effects of pomegranate have been suggested as a cost-effective way for health promotion, especially through improving blood-glucose indices. Although many studies have been done to show the association between pomegranate consumption and hyperglycemia markers, their results are inconsistent. So we performed this systematic review to evaluate this association. The study methodology was performed based on the Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis statement recommendation, and was registered at PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42015016190). The systematic search was conducted in the electronic databases including PubMed Science direct, SCOPUS, Cochrane, Ovid and Google Scholar and finally yielded 370 articles. The findings of 15 studies were summarized in the current review. Among included studies only 2 of them demonstrated beneficial effects of pomegranate derivatives on fasting blood glucose and 1 of them on glycosylated hemoglobin, others were not able to show such results. Overall the current findings are not sufficient to assess the effects of pomegranate juice or extract on hyperglycemia markers and further clinical trial and prospective cohort human studies with adequate sample size are necessary.