Health Information

Punica wines contain 100% pomegranate juice and other all natural fruits, herbs, and spices. These wines are created not only to be delicious, but also extremely healthy and hypoallergenic. Our pomegranate wines contain high amounts of antioxidants, which can help prevent many types of cancers, Alzheimer’s, viruses (such as the common cold), and some cardiovascular diseases. Of course, we would never say our wines cure or will make you immune to these things, however, studies show that diets rich in antioxidants help curve the development of the many diseases and conditions.

Pomegranates

Punica Granatum, or pomegranates to you and I, are native fruits to Persia and have been cultivated for several millennia. The juice of pomegranates contains about 16% RDA of Vitamin C and is a good source of Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) and Potassium. Pomegranates also contain extremely high amounts of antioxidant polyphenols. They also contain a different kind of hydrolzable tannin than grapes called punicalagins, which act like antioxidants, seeking free-radicals to bind with (simply, they eat free-radicals).

Studies have shown that consuming pomegranate juice may effectively reduce heart disease risk factors (which can lead to atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease). They have also been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure, inhibit viral infections, and even antibacterial effects against dental plaque!

There are clinical trials awaiting further analysis, but indications point to pomegranate juice as having a positive effect against prostate cancer, diabetes, lymphoma, the flu, the common cold, and many other conditions. Results of these studies will be celebrated on this page once conclusive evidence is published.

Antioxidants

Oxidization is the catch-22 of being alive. Your body undergoes many processes, namely those by the mitochondria, in order to provide you with the energy to move around more than a plant, however they create bad little polluting byproducts called free-radicals. Free radicals are pieces of Oxygen that are unbound and fly randomly throughout the body. The problem is, when these free-radicals hit something, they can do damage. Think of it like a ship firing cannonballs randomly towards a castle. Now, the body is amazing, it has an incredible ability to fix itself. However, sometimes these little cannonballs hit something important, like DNA; and if it hits just right, the body cannot fix it and this can lead to severe problems like cancer.

Oxidative Stress, a condition of having too many of these free-radicals flying around unchecked and contributes to many negative health conditions including: Alzheimer’s, cancer, LDL oxidation (which leads to cardiovascular disease), and even the advanced aging of the body (meaning, free-radicals are bad for your skin and the cells inside your body).

Antioxidants are the body’s best defense against free-radicals. They act in many ways to reduce the amount of free-radicals in the body, but usually result in binding the free Oxygen in some way so that it doesn’t fly around the body causing damage.

The best preventative treatment for oxidative stress is having a diet rich in antioxidants (as well as a low calorie diet since the oxidative process is directly related to the metabolism of food). Fruits and vegetables are the best source of these antioxidants, since taking artificial supplements have not been proven effective to promote the effect of free-radical reduction. Our wine is a source of very high amounts of antioxidants and free-radical reducing tannins. So not only is it wonderful to drink, but it may help reduce the risk of oxidative stress diseases.

Hypoallergenic

Our Punica wines are carefully crafted to be as hypoallergenic as possible. Although extremely rare, some people are allergic/intolerant to grapes, thus one of the origins of Punica, though obviously an allergy or intolerance to pomegranates would be a problem, this is also unfathomably rare. In addition, no gelatins are used which many people have allergy problems with and also ethical issues with since it is made from animals. Punica is totally vegan by the way. There are also no wheat glutens which some yeasts may contain. There are little to no grape tannins in the wine, which typically give people headaches (not a true allergy, but more like an intolerance many people experience). You should not experience any headaches from drinking Punica (as opposed to a comparable red wine, this claim does not reflect tomorrow’s hangover).

Sulfites

A quick note about sulfites; Punica does contain sulfites, which is not a totally bad thing. Many will tell you sulfites cause headaches, which is still being refuted by researchers (it’s mainly a problem with any number of the natural chemicals in grapes). The "Red Wine Headache" syndrome is not caused by sulfites; think of it this way, red wine tends to have a lot less sulfites than sweet white wines, yet most people do not have any headache associated with them. Sulfites are a necessity to keep the wine not only free from Oxygen, which causes discoloring and degradation of taste, but also prevent re-fermentation that can spoil aged wines. Punica tastes wonderful with a few years on it, so to keep it safe, it requires some sulfites. We can now confirm that Punica does indeed contain low levels of sulfites due to our special process! Punica contains between 8-18ppm of free sulfites (10ppm being the threshold for the claim of "No Sulfites"). Some people, however, may have sensitivity to sulfites, which can cause some effects of intolerance; if you experience this, try to reduce the amount wine you imbibe and decant the wine when you can to help oxidize the sulfites. We do what we can to keep these levels very low, but just be careful if you know you have a strong sensitivity to sulfites.

Warnings

Despite all of the obvious health benefits to drinking our Punica wines, there are some cautions we would like to give our consumers. Anything with claims of health benefits tend to carry an unspoken fine print, that no matter how good it is for your body, this only works in moderation (defined as a single bottle of beer or a glass of wine). Alcohol overdose is very serious. Imbibing too much at one time can cause alcohol poisoning and consuming more than moderate amounts for a long period of time may result in cirrhosis of the liver and even certain cancers in heavy long-term alcohol consumption. Pregnant women should never even consider drinking alcohol during their term!! Alcohol also impairs judgment and motor functions, which can be increased with certain medications, so anyone that drinks should NOT DRIVE or operate machinery. Again, we would never make the claim to provide a cure or immunization, only that the health benefits of our wine may help curve the development of the previously mentioned diseases; should you currently have any of these or suspect that you are at risk, please see your doctor.

We strongly believe in all the health benefits of our wines, but plead to all our consumers to drink responsibly and within moderation when consuming any kind of alcohol.