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Comparing Pomegranate Juice

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WendyMay

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There’s a lot to discuss when it comes to pomegranate juice and trust me when I say this, the topic is hot. I’ve written posts about this type of juice before and boy were there opinions flying around like lawn darts. It’s widely known that pomegranate juice is considered one of the “super foods.” It’s full of antioxidants and health benefits and it’s benefited so many people around the world. There are many questions about it though. How healthy is it? Why exactly is it healthy? What are its benefits? Are there downsides or side effects? These types of things. I’ll get each question down towards the bottom of this post, but I’d first like to talk specifically about two different popular brands of pomegranate juice; Langer’s and POM Wonderful. I’ll share a fun story about them directly below.

POM Wonderful Vs. Langer’s Pomegranate Juice​

We went to Costco this afternoon. It wasn’t something we wanted to do, it was something we were forced to do. We were totally out of food.

I really hate it when that happens. We get so hungry that we eventually turn on each other. We start giving each other strange looks and odd things begin to happen. When one of us catches the other licking their lips, we get in the car. It’s terrible.

It was a good visit though. We decided that we should really start the shopping in the opposite direction of the one we usually walk. That way, we can put the heavy items in the cart first, without smashing all the delicate items, such as lettuce. We did this and it worked great…until we got to the register, where we were introduced to the opposite effect. The light items came out of the cart first and, if we didn’t do some shuffling, they would have gone back into the cart first. This means they would have gotten crushed. We shuffled some stuff and things worked out just fine.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Costco today was to buy some POM Wonderful pomegranate juice. Please don’t ask me what this new fascination with juice is all about. I wouldn’t have an answer for you. I think I just need to get it out of my system.

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When we were about half way done with our shopping, we strolled through the big juice area. I asked my friend if she wanted to go ahead so I wouldn’t bore her with my POM juice hunt and she readily took me up on the offer. Once she was gone, I started looking for the pomegranate juice. For some strange reason, I couldn’t find the POM. All I could find was the Langer’s pomegranate juice. I was a little disappointed, but thought I should at least get the Langer’s because it said “100% Juice” on the label. I read the ingredients and they were: pure pomegranate juice from concentrate, water, natural flavors, etc…I think that was it. I hesitantly picked it up and walked away. I was a bit sad because I wanted to try the POM.

On my way over to the produce area, where Laura was, I saw the other big juice area. This was the expensive one. The POM juice was sitting there staring me in the face. I hustled over to it and picked it up. Now, this was the real deal. The only problem was that the juice cost $9.99 for 60 fl. oz. I thought that was a little expensive. I began to put it down when Laura walked over to me to check out the juice. She has a very nice habit of humoring me at times like this.

I started telling her that this juice cost too much and I would just get the Langer’s because it was only around $6.50 for the same volume. She said, “Well, is it the same thing?” I said, “Sure it is.” Then, I started thinking about it. Was it the same thing? They were both 100% pure pomegranate juice from concentrate and both looked the same, but why the price difference? I started looking closely at both drinks.

I remembered back a while ago when I bought a Langer’s juice in Hannaford, where we used to live. I wasn’t in love with it because I thought it was a little watered down. Then, I thought back of the time I sampled the POM juice, which is what made me want to buy this stuff in the first place. It was more syrupy.

I picked up both juice bottles and looked closely at the bottoms of them. The Langer’s was clean, but the POM had about a half inch of sediment at the bottom. To me, this was the proof. I started thinking, “They may both be pure pomegranate juice, but what is the water content of each juice?” I had a feeling that POM had a lot more pomegranate in it.

In the photo above, the sediment is being mixed up. The bottle is clear, so you can get a feel for how thick this stuff is.

When we got back to the house, I poured myself a small glass of juice. I wanted another taste of this “Chinese Apple” goodness. I took a sip and was happy to find out that I made the right choice. It was as rich as I remember. Just FYI, pomegranate juice tastes kind of tart. I like it, but if you aren’t into tart, you might not like this juice.

Okay, that was my little pomegranate juice story. I hope you liked it. Before you read on, can you do me a big favor? Can you share your opinion on your favorite pomegranate juice in the comment section below? It doesn’t have to be one of the two I just compared; it can be any brand. I think people who read this post would like to get as much great information as possible. Thanks!

What Are the Health Benefits of Pomegranate Juice?​

Throughout history, it’s been known that pomegranate juice offers many health benefits. The question is, what are they are why are these things beneficial? To help anyone who’s interested understand, I’ll list a few of these benefits and their explanations below.

  1. Antioxidants – we’ve all heard of antioxidants. Super food growers and sellers talk about them all the time. They’re healthy and they stop things that can damage cells. Antioxidants also reduce inflammation in the body. How many antioxidants does a pomegranate have? Well, that depends on the concentration of the juice from the fruit, but a good guide to go by would be twice as much as red wine and green tea has. Of course, this comparison also depends on which type of red wine and green tea, but you get the idea. Pomegranates have a lot of antioxidants.
  2. Vitamin C – pomegranates have tons of vitamin C. If you were to sit down and eat just one fruit, you’d get 40% of your day’s total requirement. That’s not bad.
  3. Prevents cancer – don’t quote me on this, but it’s all over the internet. There have been a few studies out there and there are many ongoing ones as I type this that say pomegranates stop the growth of prostate cancer cells. If you’re interested in learning more, please do an internet search. As I said, there’s no shortage of material to sift through.
  4. Alzheimer’s – Back to the antioxidants. Basically, if you can ingest lots of antioxidants, your body will thank you. Because of all the antioxidants this fruit and its juice offers, the progression of Alzheimer’s can be stunted. Also, they say memory can be protected as well, meaning, you won’t forget things as much as you would if you hadn’t eaten this fruit.
  5. Anti-inflammatory – Do you have Crohn’s Disease? Do you have inflammation throughout your body? This fruit can help with both. It can even help with digestion because all those antioxidants reduce inflammation not only throughout the major parts of the body, but in the gut as well.
  6. Pomegranates can also help people with (I’ll just list them out here): diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure, viruses, and memory decline. It can even help with sexual performance, fertility, and endurance. The primary ingredients in this juice that help so much are antioxidants, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, folate, potassium, and flavonols.
Now, many other fruits and juices offer benefits such as these, but few of them offer this level of concentration. So when shopping for your next healthy drink, look at the numbers.

Are There Any Negative Side-Effects from Drinking Pomegranate Juice?​

From what I’ve read, the only side effect has to do with allergies, so after drinking some of this juice, if you develop a runny nose, itching, swelling, trouble breathing, or anything else related to these things, obviously stop drinking. If your symptoms are severe enough, you best head to the closest emergency room.

Is Pomegranate Juice Good for Weight Loss?​

This fruit is a great source of fiber, so it can help with weight loss. Fiber helps the gut and reduces appetite (search this topic for more information if you’re interested). One cup of pomegranate juice offers 0.2 grams of fiber. That’s not a tremendous amount, but listen to this: the seeds of pomegranates are really rich in fiber. Pomegranate flour can give you 50% of your daily requirement of fiber. That’s a lot. What’s responsible for this? The two types of fiber contained in the seeds are cellulose and lignin.

Is Pomegranate Juice Good for Skin?​

This is interesting. When people think about taking care of their skin, they primarily think of reducing exposure to the sun as well as keeping the skin moist. While these two things are important, what if I told you that fighting certain bacteria in the skin can help plenty as well? It’s true. If you’ve got acne, there’s a good chance that you’ve got Propionibacterium acnes, otherwise known as P. acnes, bacteria growing on your body. It’s thought that because of the natural antimicrobials from vitamin C that are contained in pomegranate juice, you might see a reduction of this bacteria after adding this particular juice into your diet. It only makes sense that after a reduction of the bacteria, you might see a reduction in your acne as well.

So there you have it, the many health benefits of the pomegranate and its juice. If you’ve got anything to add, please do so down below. I’d love to learn more about this wonderful fruit.

COMMENT: That’s great! Now you’ll live forever!! What a great story. I’m glad you made the right choice. Email me your contact info and I’d be happy to send you a couple of coupons for your next visit. Cheers, POM Blogger

COMMENT: Thanks for sharing your story. However, there are a few things you should know. The thickness of 100% juice products or concentration factor is determined by FDA and is the same for all juice manufacturers. The sediment that you see at the bottom is due to not filtering the concentrate properly. The companies that makes the concentrated juice go through a lot of trouble and expense to filter out all the sediments to have a very clear final product (juice). So, when you see the sediment, the price of the juice must be cheaper since the concentrate goes through less filtration. The reason POM is more expensive is due to its marketing and overhead and not quality.

COMMENT: Are you telling me I’ve been had? Are you saying that POM Wonderful and Langer’s are the same exact quality? I must tell you that after drinking both juices, I respectfully disagree. But then again, I am not a juice expert.

COMMENT: Depending on the variety of the fruits that are used to make the concentrate, the taste can be different. Some are more sour than the others. The juice manufacturers try to achieve a consistent taste by adding the “Natural Flavors”. Different people have different tastes. I personally like a more sour taste, hence, I prefer Langers. As far as quality, they are both the same and they both use 100% pomegranate juice concentrate. Clarity is usually one of the factors to measure the quality. In this case, I would argue that Langers has a superior quality than POM. But again, both are pasteurized with 100% juice and they both have perfectly acceptable quality.

COMMENT: Thanks for posting the price. We received our coupon book from Costco today and it included a $2 off 60oz bottle of POM with no limit. We love the POM, but it is pricey. BTW, everyone I know prefers the POM, Langers tastes more like cranberry juice to me. Then again, all packaged juices I’ve tried are too sweet in my opinion. So I always end up cutting them in half with water. Saves money that way also.

COMMENT: Agreed. I like POM better too. I also mix with water to make it last longer.

COMMENT: Ten dollers for 60oz’s…, i spent five dollors at acme for a 16oz bottle, and that one bottle has gotten me addicted to the stuff. i got hit by a car at a local tech school and at the hospital all they found was high blood pressure and recommended pom juice. I made those small bottles last me a week (college kids don’t have that much loose change) so through your story i plan to buy a crate-ful of this stuff from costco when i visit my mom.

COMMENT: Loved this write up. Reminded me of myself with letting the wife go ahead while I pontificate on the juice ingredients. Anyway I wish u would have spent more time explaining your breakdown on taste of one versus the other. Also I wonder what the natural flavors in the langers version are. Pom wonderful doesn’t list natural flavors in its ingredients.

COMMENT: For those of you who have been buying your Pom Wonderful 60 oz bottles of pomegranate juice at Costco, you can forget it. I stopped in our store in Santa Maria, CA and they no longer have it. I was informed by Costco clerks that POM Wonderful had raised their prices so they discontinued carrying it. This seems to be a Costco trend. They get you started on a product then in a couple of months they stop having it. Cheers for Costco!!!!

COMMENT: Our Costco here in northern CA has still been selling it. I gave it up for awhile cuz it was mighty expensive when you drink 1 bottle a week. I’ll drink the Langer’s once in awhile, both are quite strong so I occasionally dilute it as well.

COMMENT: Two additional items to consider I have noticed is that Pom is sold refrigerated and that adds to the cost. The Langer’s container reads that it should be refrigerated after opening and be dunk within 7 days. Here in Northern California, Lucky’s has a sale on for the Langer’s 64oz for $1.99 and the Pomegranate/Cherry for the same price. I just stocked up. I have also tried the Pom and think like the taste a little better. Question for Pomegranate Expert, what happens to the juice after 7 days? Good health to all. - Check that, the Langer’s at Lucky’s this weekend is NOT the 100% juice. In my area Costco at about $7.40 seems the best deal for Langers 64oz.

COMMENT: Anybody know where I can find Langers All Pomegranate in the Cleveland, Ohio area? Costco no longer carries it here.

COMMENT: Has anyone tried “Old-Farm” brand 100% pomegranate juice. It sells for $6.99 for 64 ounces, is unrefrigerated and contains a ton of sediment on the bottom. I think that it tastes better than Langers or POM and is less expensive to boot.

COMMENT: Gee, I’m looking at a 32oz bottle of Langer’s Fresh Pressed All Pomegranate and the front label states “Not from concentrate”; the ingredients list “100% pure pomegranate juice from U.S. grown fresh pomegranates, natural flavor.” Also included is the statement “all natural, no sugar, sweeteners, or colors added, no preservatives.”

COMMENT: I agree. The bottle of Langers I am looking at says the same. It has sediment in the bottom of the bottle and costs about $3 at the local supermarket, less than a third of the POM mentioned here. I’ll stick with Langers.
 
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