With 'superfruits' now well established in the functional beverages sector, manufacturers are looking for new ways to utilise them in dietary supplements. And the current hot juice ingredient, pomegranate, is leading the pack.

Major US supplements manufacturer Jarrow Formulas has teamed up with New York-based biosciences firm Arben Bioscience, to produce a line of premium pomegranate supplements the companies claim has greater bioavailability than the limited number of existing pomegranate supplements on the market. The difference, they say, is a 'specially fermented and dried pomegranate juice.'

California-based Jarrow and Pomegranate Health — the Arben division it is working with — have released the first product, PomGuard, as part of the PomAmazing range it is developing. The range will be distributed through health food stores such as Whole Foods and Wild Oats and will not be available in supermarkets or other nonhealth channel vendors, Jarrow's advertising and communications director, Mark Becker, told FF&N.

Pomegranate Health has been developing and marketing pomegranate supplements for some time with the assistance of Dr Ephraim Lansky who, in 1998, was the first to publish research linking pomegranate consumption and cardiovascular health.

"We have plans for various capsule and liquid forms and we'll be pursuing international health channels as aggressively as we can," Becker said. The range would be marketed on its cardiovascular benefits, he said.

Other pomegranate supplements on the US market include New Jersey start-up PomGT's capsule supplement, which combines pomegranate extract with green tea. PomGT says a daily dose of its supplement is equivalent to consuming eight cups of green tea plus two 8oz glasses of pomegranate juice.

Nature's Herbs, based in Utah, also offers a pomegranate supplement that contains 40mg of pomegranate extract per capsule.

Evidence indicates pomegranate improves cardiovascular function, brain tissue, bone mass and prostate health, and has anti-ageing and immune-system benefits.?