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Take it from the Greeks, the juicy pomegranate is one powerful fruit. When Hades, the god of the underworld, kidnapped Persephone, he tempted her into eating the seeds of a pomegranate, failing to explain, of course, that each seed she ate would keep her a prisoner in his nether kingdom for the period of one month.

Though the pomegranate has long had a place in myth and folk medicine around the world, the fruit has just recently become the new darling of Western health food enthusiasts. Its popularity stems from recent research that shows that the apple-sized pomegranate has more antioxidant properties than either red wine or green tea.

"Having antioxidants helps internally sequester free radicals that are formed in the human body all of the time," said Adel Kader, a professor of plant physiology at the University of California Davis who has done research into pomegranate juice. "Antioxidants take care of the free radicals that can have a very negative effect on the human physiology." Free radicals occur naturally in the human body when weak bonds that hold molecules together split apart. They can also be caused by environmental factors like pollution or cigarette smoke.

Through a chain reaction, free radicals destabilize, and can eventually destroy healthy cells. Normally, the body can cope with the free radicals, but, without antioxidants like Vitamin C or E, that neutralize free radicals, serious damage can be done to cells, and eventually to the body.

Because of its antioxidant properties, the pomegranate is being heralded as a way to help prevent heart disease and cancer and as a way to slow aging. Thanks in part to the groundbreaking research led by Michael Aviram of the Lipid Research Laboratory at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, which first revealed the antioxidant properties of the fruit, the pomegranate is gaining in popularity in the United States.

Two new pomegranate products have recently hit grocery store shelves. Healthy Pomegranate is a 250 mg food supplement produced by Nature's Bounty that is made from pomegranate seeds and extract. POM Wonderful is 100 percent pomegranate juice and is made by POM Wonderful, whose farms are located in the San Joaquin Valley in California.

An apple-size fruit with a leathery skin, the pomegranate contains a juicy layer of pulp, the edible part of the fruit, which surrounds its hundreds of seeds. It grows best in warm temperate climates and is native to southeastern Europe and Asia, according to the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. The fruit was grown in ancient Egypt, where it was often used as a symbol of fertility. The pomegranate is now grown largely in the Middle East, Spain and California.

Though the pomegranate has been proven to be high in antioxidants, Professor Kader said, people should eat a variety of fruits and vegetables as a general approach, rather than solely relying on herbal supplements or focusing on one fruit as the only way to good health. Herbal supplements may not always provide everything that your body needs to process the properties of what you are eating the food for in the first place, he said.

Additionally, there is such a biological diversity between fruits and vegetables and between humans as well that 20 human beings eating the same substance will each have a slightly different reaction to the substance, said Kader. For one person, eating strawberries may boost their antioxidant levels for four hours; for another, its effect might last only 20 minutes. For this reason, "eating a variety of different colors of fruits and vegetables every day is a good policy," Kader said. "It can't be a once a week program."

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