The pomegranate: a most fashionable fruit

Scientists are investigating a chemical in the fruit as a protection against breast cancer, so it is unlikely to wane in public favour. A lyrical verse in the Bible prescribes "a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe" made for Aaron.

Perhaps when we were young and chanced to hear those words, pomegranates themselves were almost as mysterious as the rest of Aaron's raiment. Now they are in every supermarket, in fashion as the super-food above all others. As we report today, scientists are investigating a chemical in the fruit as a protection against breast cancer, so it is unlikely to wane in public favour. Yet it keeps an exotic air, for no degree of climate change can coax it to ripen in these icy isles. Like unicorns and gryphons it thrives best in heraldic ground. Carved on the tomb of poor Queen Katharine of Aragon, in Peterborough Cathedral, it can still be seen, ripe and healthy to this day.The next stage is to isolate and identify the "active ingredient", synthesise it so that it can be patented and then make it into a lucrative, ineffecive/dangerous drug. A fruit that has been around
since bibical times may hold the clue to cure of cancer, according to recent research findings by US scientists, as Telegraoh View's editorial opinion revealed here.

This ingredient is derived from promegranate which originated from Iran, now grown in neighboring countries, southern Europe, the Mediterrinean, and brought to Latin America and California by Spanish settlers in the late 18th century.

Source - Telegraph