Abstract
Pomegranate is considered as “wonder fruit” because of its various therapeutic effects. This paper aims to provide an up-to-date overview of the phytochemical, pharmaco-logical and toxicological properties. The research strategy includes review of the exist-ing literature in the ISI Web of Knowledge (Thomson Reuters), textbooks and Phar-macopeias from year 1978 to 2016. Phytochemical screening shows that its fruit, juice, seeds, flowers, leaves, root, bark and fruit peel contains the following; gallic acid, ellagic acid, punicalin, punicalagin, caffeic acid, citric acid, malic acid, succinic acid, tartaric acid, acetic acid, oxalic acid, shikimik acid, maleic acid, furamic acid ellagitannins, pelletierine alkaloids, piperidine alkaloid, isopelletierine, me-thyl-pelletierine, pseudopelletierine, glucoside, granatic acid, luteolin, kaempferol, quercitin, catechin, EGCG, rutin, flavones, flavonones, flavonoid,flavonols, steroids, lignins, fats & oils, cardiac glycosides, carbohydrates, anthocyanidins, anthocyanins melatonin, delfinidin 3-O-glucoside, punicacortein A, punicacortein B, pedunculagin, tellimagrandin, glucose, delphinidin, gallagyldilacton, tannins, simple sugars, aliphatic organic acids, quinic acid, amino acids, minerals, ascorbic acids, ursolic acid, triterpinoids, fatty acids, 3,3’-Di-O-methylellagic acid ; 3,3’,4’- Tri-O-methyellagic acid, punicic acid, oleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, linoleic acid, sterols, tocopherols, sex steroids and other coloring matter. Moreover, pharmacological properties includes antiatherosclerotic, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antidiarrheal, antimutagenic, antioxidant, antiparasitic, antiviral, astringent, abortifacient, hemorrhoids, cancer-chemopreventive, improve fertility, neuronal activ-ity, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, and skin whitening activity. In toxicological assessment, ten patients with carotid artery stenosis demonstrated that juice consumption (121 mg/ LEA equivalents) for up to three years had no toxic effect on the blood chemistry analysis for kidney, liver and heart function. Human trials were also conducted using doses of pomegranate fruit extracts up to 1,420 mg/day (870mg gallic acid equivalents), for 28 days and did not report any adverse changes in blood or urine laboratory values. The methanolic extract of peel exhibited no significant toxicity (LC50 = 1.42 mg/ml) against Artemia salina (brine shrimp). For the whole fruit, animal studies have failed to report any toxicities at doses conventionally used in the conventional system of medicine. The overall finding of the review suggests that Punica granatum whole fruit is safe up to 2000 mg/kg body weight oral administration and can be considered as non-toxic. Therefore, based on the review conducted it shows that Punica granatum is a promising herbal plant that can be developed into a suitable pharmaceutical dosage form.