Pomegranate: Benefits, Effects, and Ripening Months - Can Pregnant Women Eat It?

Autumn is almost here, and it is pomegranate season again. Traditional Chinese culture regards the pomegranate as an auspicious symbol, a symbol of many children and abundant blessings. Do you know about the benefits and effects of pomegranate? Can pregnant women eat pomegranate too?

1. The benefits and effects of pomegranate

1. Pomegranate juice contains a variety of amino acids and trace elements, and helps with digestion, fights gastric ulcers, softens blood vessels, lowers blood lipids and blood sugar, and reduces cholesterol, among other functions. It can help prevent coronary heart disease and high blood pressure, and can achieve the effects of strengthening the stomach, refreshing the mind, boosting appetite, and promoting longevity; for those who drink too much alcohol, it has a remarkable effect in sobering them up.

2. The pomegranate can be said to be a treasure in every part; the peel, root, and flowers can all be used as medicine. Its peel contains malic acid, tannins, alkaloids, and other components. According to relevant experiments, pomegranate peel has obvious antibacterial and astringent functions; it can cause the intestinal mucosa to contract and reduce the secretions of the intestinal mucosa, so it can effectively treat diarrhea, dysentery, and other conditions, and has a good inhibitory effect on Shigella dysenteriae and Escherichia coli. In addition, the peel of the pomegranate contains alkaline substances, which have a deworming effect; pomegranate flowers have a hemostatic function, and washing the eyes with water infused with pomegranate flowers also has an eye-brightening effect.

3. Pomegranate is warm in nature and sweet, sour, and astringent in taste, and enters the lung, kidney, and large intestine meridians; it has the effects of promoting body fluid and quenching thirst, astringing and consolidating, and stopping diarrhea and bleeding; it mainly treats conditions such as fluid depletion with dry mouth and throat, excessive thirst, chronic diarrhea, chronic dysentery, bloody stools, and uterine bleeding.

2. Can pregnant women eat pomegranate?

Drinking more pomegranate juice during pregnancy can reduce the chance of impaired fetal brain development. It can also effectively improve the symptoms of poor appetite, relieve pregnant women's vomiting pain, and increase nutrient absorption. Therefore, pregnant women can not only eat pomegranate, but it is also good for both themselves and the fetus.

1. Relieves symptoms of morning sickness and nausea. During pregnancy, many pregnant women experience morning sickness, nausea, and similar symptoms, and eating pomegranate at this time can effectively relieve these symptoms.

2. Relieves fatigue during pregnancy. Pregnant women who eat some pomegranate or drink pomegranate juice during pregnancy can also relieve symptoms such as shoulder soreness and eye fatigue caused by pregnancy.

3. Reduces the chance of fetal brain damage. Research has found that drinking pomegranate juice during pregnancy helps reduce the chance of impaired fetal development and promotes normal fetal brain development.

3. Food taboos of pomegranate

1. Suitable for people with dry mouth and tongue, people with diarrhea, and people with tonsillitis;

2. Not suitable for people with constipation, patients with urethritis, people with diabetes, and people with excess heat and food stagnation.

3. Food incompatibilities: pomegranate should not be eaten together with tomatoes, crabs, watermelon, or potatoes. If it is taken together with potatoes, you can drink water infused with Chinese chives to detoxify.

4. Pomegranate ripening season

The pomegranate flowering period is May-June, and the pomegranate fruiting period is September—October. After ripening, it becomes a large, multi-chambered, multi-seeded berry, with many seeds in each chamber; the outer seed coat is fleshy, bright red, light red, or white, juicy, sweet with a touch of sourness, and this is the edible part; the inner seed coat is horny, and there are also those that have degenerated and softened, namely soft-seeded pomegranates.

Pomegranate grows on mountains at an altitude of 300-1000 m. It likes a warm, sunny environment, is drought-tolerant, cold-tolerant, and also tolerant of poor soil, but is not tolerant of waterlogging or shade. It is not strict about soil requirements, but cultivation in well-drained sandy loam is preferable. In the early stage, pomegranates need a bit more water, the sweetness is not high, and the seeds are somewhat hard; in the later stage there is less water, the sugar content is a bit higher, and the seeds are somewhat softer; however, if pomegranates are stored properly, they keep very well, and you can still eat pomegranates even at Spring Festival.