Pomegranate Extract for Healthy Skin and Gut Microbiome

The pomegranate fruit has been widely used in traditional medicine and has increasingly gained popularity for its various health benefits. A new study looked at the effects of pomegranate extract on different aspects of skin health and found that pomegranate extract may be beneficial.

The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted on men and women aged 25–55 years for a period of four weeks. Participants were given a standardized oral pomegranate extract or a placebo daily for four weeks, and changes in the skin (i.e., wrinkle severity, facial biophysical properties, skin microbiome, transepidermal water loss, and facial sebum production) and gut microbiome were measured with tools such as facial imaging and other methods.

The group that received the pomegranate extract had significant reductions in wrinkle severity and a decrease in the rate of forehead sebum excretion. The researchers also found beneficial effects to the gut-skin axis, finding that the participants in the pomegranate extract group who had a higher abundance of Eggerthellaceae in the gut had a decrease in wrinkle severity and transepidermal water loss. Pomegranate extract supplementation also led to an increase in the microflora species Staphylococcus epidermidis and of the Bacillus genus on the skin.

The researchers concluded that the significant skin benefits from pomegranate extract may be due to the potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of the phytochemicals, as pomegranate contains more than 100 bioactive constituents, including ellagitannins, gallotannins, anthocyanins, flavanol–anthocyanin adducts, flavonoids, phenolic acids and other phenols.