The Best Juice To Drink For A Sore Throat Can Also Help Ward Off Cancer

After a loud concert or an intense sports event, you might notice your throat feeling scratchy or sore from all the shouting and cheering. But sometimes, a sore throat isn't just from overuse. It can also be a symptom of an underlying infection. Viral infections, such as the common cold or flu, are frequent culprits of a sore throat. Strep throat is caused by a bacterial infection that can also make swallowing painful and speaking difficult.

The right remedy depends on the cause of your discomfort. While over-the-counter cold medicine or antibiotics may be necessary in some cases, one trick to try for a sore throat is pomegranate juice. While it won't cure a bacterial or viral infection or undo the strain from yelling, pomegranate juice is packed with antioxidants that may help reduce inflammation and soothe irritation in your throat. Staying hydrated through pomegranate juice can also support your body's natural healing process, helping you recover more comfortably.

Even if you don't have a sore throat, you may want to start drinking pomegranate juice to help ward off cancer. According to a 2022 article in Frontiers in Oncology, pomegranate juice has nutrients called anthocyanidins that slow the growth of prostate, breast, and pancreatic cancer cells and trigger their death.

Pomegranate juice is made from its bright red seeds, which have more antioxidants than red wine and green tea, according to a 2017 article in Molecules. The seeds, bark, leaves, and roots of the pomegranate shrub have considerable medicinal value in treating diarrhea, ulcers, and diabetes. Pomegranate fruit extract, juice, and seed oils can protect against the effects of sun damage and possibly skin cancer.

Women may want to start eating more pomegranates because specific compounds can block estrogen production and disrupt the hormone-related pathways that can lead to breast cancer. Pomegranate extract can block proteins that allow prostate cancer cells to survive while also lowering levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Pomegranate extract may also slow lung cancer growth, and the polyphenols in pomegranates may lower the risk of colon cancer. A 2020 study in Nutrition and Cancer found that pomegranate fruit extract can block the blood vessel formation that allows pancreatic and colon cancer cells to survive. This cuts off the blood supply to the tumor.

Pomegranate juice may hold promise as a preventive measure against bladder cancer. A 2020 study in Heliyon exposed laboratory rats to a chemical known to cause bladder cancer. The rats that were given pomegranate juice showed significant reductions in inflammation, oxidative stress, and cancer-related markers. Only 25% of the rats in the pomegranate juice group showed early signs of cancer, yet none developed full-blown bladder cancer after 12 weeks.

A glass of pomegranate juice may soothe a sore throat or help your body fend off cancer, but there are other reasons to enjoy pomegranate juice. When you press those bright red seeds into juice, the seeds travel right through your digestive system until they reach your gut. From there, your gut bacteria feed on the seeds and produce urolithins. These urolithins improve your health in many ways, due to their anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, and pro-heart health potential.

The good gut bacteria thrive on pomegranate while preventing the harmful bacteria from growing out of control. In this way, pomegranate can improve the health of your gut and support your immune system. The strong antioxidants in pomegranate can also reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in your brain to preserve your memory. According to a 2023 review in Food Bioscience, the plant-based nutrients in pomegranate may also improve your cardiovascular health and lower your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, liver disease, and neurodegenerative diseases.