Phytochemicals in Foods - 7 Health Benefits of Punicalagins

Punicalagins are phytochemical in the class of Stilbenoids, found abundantly in pomegranates, etc.

Health Benefits
1. Prostate cancer
In the investigation of the relationship between pomegranate-induced apoptosis in human prostate cancer cells and the IGF/IGFBP system, found that treatment of LAPC4 prostate cancer cells with 10microg/ml POMx, a highly potent pomegranate extract prepared from skin and arils minus seeds and standardized to ellagitannin content (37% punicalagins by HPLC), resulted in inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis, co-treatment with POMx and IGFBP-3 revealed synergistic stimulation of apoptosis and additive inhibition of cell growth. Western blot analysis revealed that treatment with POMx or POMx/IGFBP-3 combination resulted in increased JNK phosphorylation, and decreased Akt and mTOR activation, consistent with a growth inhibitory, pro-apoptotic function, according to "Pomegranate extract induces apoptosis in human prostate cancer cells by modulation of the IGF-IGFBP axis"by Koyama S, Cobb LJ, Mehta HH, Seeram NP, Heber D, Pantuck AJ, Cohen P.(1)

2. Anti cancers, antioxidant and antimicrobial effects
In the determination of the phenolic and tannin content of C. ladanifer and C. populifolius leaves aqueous extracts and its the antioxidant and antimicrobial effects from roots and aerial parts of Cistaceae used since ancient times in the Mediterranean cultures for its medicinal properties, found that cytotoxicity on a panel of human cancer cells was also determined. C. populifolius extract was stronger antioxidant than C. ladanifer extract in electron transfer reaction based assays but C. ladanifer extract was more effective to inhibit peroxyl radicals. The major compounds in both extracts were ellagitannins, especially punicalagins derivatives, showing C. populifolius a higher content. C. ladanifer showed noteworthy antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, whereas C. populifolius was effective against Escherichia coli, with MICs values of 154 and 123 microg/mL, according to "Cistaceae aqueous extracts containing ellagitannins show antioxidant and antimicrobial capacity, and cytotoxic activity against human cancer cells"by Barrajón-Catalán E, Fernández-Arroyo S, Saura D, Guillén E, Fernández-Gutiérrez A, Segura-Carretero A, Micol V.(2)

3. Antiplasmodial activity
In the study (i) to assess in vitro the antiplasmodial activity of the methanolic extract, of a tannin enriched fraction and of compounds/metabolites of the antimalarial plant, (ii) to estimate the curative efficacy of the Pg extracts and (iii) to explore the mechanism of action of the antiplasmodial compounds, found that the Pg methanolic extract (Pg-MeOH) inhibited parasite growth in vitro with a IC(50) of 4.5 and 2.8 microg/ml, for D10 and W2 strain, respectively. The activity was found to be associated to the fraction enriched with tannins (Pg-FET, IC(50) 2.9 and 1.5 microg/ml) in which punicalagins (29.1%), punicalins, ellagic acid (13.4%) and its glycoside could be identified, according to "Antiplasmodial activity of Punica granatum L. fruit rind" by Dell'Agli M, Galli GV, Corbett Y, Taramelli D, Lucantoni L, Habluetzel A, Maschi O, Caruso D, Giavarini F, Romeo S, Bhattacharya D, Bosisio E.(3)

4. Skinprotective effects
In the investigation of the potential protective effects of a pomegranate fruit extract standardized to punicalagins against UVA- and UVB-induced damage in SKU-1064 human skin fibroblast cells, found that pomegranate extract (PE), in a range from 5 to 60 mg/L, was effective at protecting human skin fibroblasts from cell death following UV exposure, likely related to a reduced activation of the pro-inflammatory transcription factor NF-kappaB, a downregulation of proapoptotic caspase-3, and an increased G0/G1 phase, associated with DNA repair, according to "Protective effects of standardized pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) polyphenolic extract in ultraviolet-irradiated human skin fibroblasts"by Pacheco-Palencia LA, Noratto G, Hingorani L, Talcott ST, Mertens-Talcott SU.(4)

5. Gut health
In the investigation of the effect of pomegranate tannin constituents on the growth of various species of human gut bacteria, found that the growth of Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis was slightly inhibited by punicalagins, punicalins, and ellagic acid. POMx supplementation significantly enhanced the growth of Bifidobacterium breve and Bifidobacterium infantis, according to "The effect of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) byproducts and ellagitannins on the growth of human gut bacteria"by Bialonska D, Kasimsetty SG, Schrader KK, Ferreira D.(5)

6. Etc.
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Sources
(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19853487
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20510328
(3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19577622
(4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18717570
(5) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19705832