You pick up a bottle of pomegranate juice because you’ve learned that, although it costs more than most juices, it is replete with antioxidants that bring health benefits. But wait: Is the juice you’ve purchased really pomegranate juice? Or is the product label you have carefully read promising more than it delivers?
UC Riverside chemistry professor Cynthia Larive is determined to find out. She is playing detective by applying chemical tests to juice products sold as pomegranate juice or pomegranate juice blends in order to authenticate their contents.
“We are measuring levels of unique compounds in pomegranate juice and are able to use this ‘molecular fingerprint’ to discriminate against adulterated juice products,” says Larive, whose research on pomegranate juice is being funded by a nearly $50,000 one-year grant from Pom Wonderful, a company that grows and markets pomegranates and pomegranate-based products.
In the lab, Larive and her graduate student Daniel Orr are measuring levels of biochemicals in juices, such as amino acids, organic acids, sugars, pomegranate pigment compounds and health-producing antioxidant molecules that are unique to pomegranate juice.
“We have received a collection of pomegranate samples from around the world, as well as commercial juices such as beet, grape, apple and pear – to name just a few,” Larive says. “We’re looking at whether or not our molecular fingerprint method can be used to identify products claiming to contain pomegranate juice when they don’t, and products claiming to be pomegranate juice when they are not.”
Larive plans to publish her results soon in a peer-reviewed journal. For the complete news release about the research, see the UC Riverside media website.
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