Study the potential effects of pomegranate as nutraceutical for iron deficiency anemia in rats

Abstract EN

Iron deficiency (ID) is thought to be the most prevalent underlying cause of anemia, accounting for half of all cases worldwide.

therefore, this study aimed to assess the ability of pomegranate to treat iron deficiency anemia (IDA) induced by tannic acid (TA) in rats.

36 female albino ratswere divided into two main groups ; group i (6 rats) fed on basal diet and served as negative (-ve) control group.

group ii, 30 rats fed on basal diet with the addition of 20 g tannic acid / kg diet for three weeks.

after that ; group ii was divided into five equal subgroups (6 rats per each) and all of them fed on a basal diet with or without addition as follow : subgroup 1 : fed on a basal diet only and served as positive (+ve)control group, subgroup 2 and 3 : received pomegranate (molasses and juice) at dose 1.17 and 2 ml / kg b.

wt., respectively.

subgroup 4 : fed on a basal diet containing dried pomegranate peels (1.18 mg / kg body weight) and subgroup 5 : rats were fed on a basal diet containing dried pomegranate peels (0.6 mg / kg b.

Wt.,) and received a daily oral dose of pomegranate molasses and juice (0.6 and 1 ml / kg b.

Wt.,) respectively.

at the end of the experiment ; biological evaluation and hematologic indices for the diagnosis of IDA were estimated.

the results indicated that TA induced a significant decrease in the Hb, Hct% and ferritin, while TIBC was increased.

also, AST, ALT and ALP were affected by TA.

but, a supplemented diet with all forms of pomegranate reversed such changes and improved the anemic biomarkers.

moreover, the best result was found in the group treated with the pomegranate forms mixture.