Pomegranate for Diabetes and its’ Complications Amelioration

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease affecting various body organs and systemscausing several complications such ascardiovascular diseases, stroke, nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy, erectile dysfunction and diabetic foot ulcer development. Diabetic patients are under oxidative stress and inflammation that play crucial role in complications development.Pomegranate, containingvarious phytochemicals with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antihyperglycemic, antihyperlipidemic, antihypertensive, antiatherogenic, antimicrobial, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, regenerative, wound healing andimmuno modulatory bioactivities, at the same time is sufficiently treating diabetesand its’ complications without any side effects as safety tests have shown. Pomegranate treatment improves antioxidant status of the patients, reduces inflammation, ameliorates diabetes improving insulin sensitivity, increasing insulin production and secretion,reducing blood glucose levels, inhibiting hemoglobin glycosylation, protecting pancreas and is contributing to pancreatic islets regeneration and stimulation. It also ameliorates cardiovascular complications decreasing total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, lipid peroxidation, atherosclerosis, increasing the beneficial HDL. Pomegranate alsoenhances wound healing byreducing bacterial count, inhibiting quorum sensing and biofilm formation, increasing collagen production, upregulating the EGF, VEGF and TGF-β1 levelsand leading to excellent epithelialization and neovascularization. Besides, pomegranate treatment ameliorates nephropathy reducing serum creatinine, urine albumin, blood urea nitrogen, urine albumin to creatinine ratio,renal fibrosis, glomerular sclerosis, hypertrophyand interstitial hyperplasia. Pomegranate treatment is preventing or ameliorating neuropathy and alsoimproving erectile function by increasingintracavernosal blood flow and MICP/MAP percentage in patients with atherosclerosis. Moreover, pomegranate ameliorates retinopathy reducing the oxidative stress biomarker 8-OHdG, decreasing the levels of sialic acid, malondialdehyde, improving retina cell layers and delaying cataract onset. Is important to be mentioned that while in diabetic individuals the values of several biochemical parameters were significantly improved, at the same time there were not changes on thehealthy individuals’ biochemical parameters which were normal, indicatingexcept its’ excellent pharmaceutical properties alsoa regulatory role of pomegranate as it is acting only whenever it is needed for health achievement and maintenance.These results indicate that pomegranate can offer an alternative,safe, holistic treatment for diabetes and its’ complications, improving the general health and quality of life of the patient.