Punicalagin is a type of polyphenol found in pomegranate and pomegranate juice. You might not have heard of it before, but punicalagin supports the male urinary tract and reproductive system in the following ways:
But, by themselves, punicalagin doesn't do very much at all. In fact, it's not even absorbed very well by your body. However, once it makes the trek through your gastrointestinal tract, it's converted into a substance called ellagic acid, some of which is further metabolized into other compounds, chief among them various types of urolithin (urolithin A, B, D, etc.), all of which enter your circulation quite efficiently through the colon.
So, while pomegranate/punicalagin gets all the accolades, it's primarily urolithin that's doing the heavy lifting. That idiom, though, appears to be more than just a figure of speech because a new study reports that urolithin supplementation actually improves your ability to lift heavy – it increased muscle strength in middle-aged men by 12% after only four months.
A group of Swiss scientists yodeled out for 88 adults aged 40 to 64 years and randomized them to receive either 500 mg. or 1,000 mg. of a urolithin-A supplement or placebo for four months.
The scientists measured the participants' muscle strength, exercise performance, biomarkers of mitochondrial function, and skeletal muscle inflammation via biopsies at baseline, two months, and four months.
Both doses of urolithin-A ended up increasing hamstring and knee flexor strength. Aerobic performance also improved in the higher dosage group, along with physical performance and power output.
The results were thought to be a result of urolithin's effects on mitochondria. Apparently, urolithin-A promotes mitochondrial autophagy, which is sort of a biological version of that old movie, Logan's Run, in that old mitochondria are "hunted down" and purged when they get old so that the cell can continue to be a healthy, functioning "society."
The researcher's synopsized the findings this way:
"These results are exciting because this is the first human demonstration that urolithin-A repairs the mitochondria via autophagy and can produce meaningful physiological effects."
What's truly compelling about their study is that the added strength and physical performance occurred in the absence of any exercise routine.
The only apparent negative of this study was that it was funded by a supplement company, but the results at least appear to be consistent with the results of other studies involving punicalagin/urolithin on rodents, nematodes, and human Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients (Luan, 2021).
Supporting reproductive/urinary tract health and increasing physical performance are only a couple of punicaligan's/urolithin's superpowers. Among their other capabilities are the following:
The parent compound and its metabolite are powerful inhibitor of aromatase activity, which means they/it thwarts the conversion of testosterone into estrogen, thereby elevating testosterone levels naturally.
This elevation appears to be substantial, too, as one study of men and women found that punicalagin/urolithin raises levels of the hormone by an average of 24%.
This appears to be the doing of another punicalagin metabolite – ellagic acid – rather than urolithin, but nevertheless, the parent compound and its metabolite inhibit the 5-alpha reductase enzyme. This results in less testosterone being converted to DHT, thereby increasing testosterone levels while preventing growth of the prostate.
Punicalagin/urolithin elevates levels of nitric oxide (NO), which relaxes the smooth muscle fibers of the penile arteries so they allow more blood to flow into the penis.
That's exactly how drugs like Viagra work, too, but punicalagin/urolithin elevates neuronal nitric oxide synthase, whereas Viagra and similar drugs elevate endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Of course, elevating either type of NO usually results in a prize-winning erection.
What's important about that fact is punicalagin/urolithin might work for those men for whom Viagra and its cousins are an epic failure. But the effectiveness of punicalagins/urolithins isn't restricted to men for whom Viagra and its cousins don't work – they appear to improve erectile function in just about every healthy man.
A double-blind crossover study with 61 male subjects found that 47% reported improved erections with pomegranate while only 32% of placebo did... and that was with plain pomegranate and not purified and standardized punicalagin.
We've already discussed how punicalagin/urolithin raise levels of NO, which in itself opens up blood vessels, but the combo also appears to improve circulatory function in general through their powerful antioxidant capability. Multiple studies have shown them to enhance blood flow in general and even reverse arterial plaque growth (roto-rooter out the plaque and you automatically improve blood flow).
As a bonus, erections are all about hydraulics, and if the "hoses" (blood vessels) are strong and clear of gunk, they can provide a lot of the pressure needed to hoist your penis skywards.
The compounds inhibit alpha glucoside, which leads to a decrease in glucose absorption.
Full disclosure: Regarding the study on urolithin and muscle strength in middle-aged men, the amounts of urolithin used were rather large (500 mg. to 1,000 mg.), much more than you might ingest through ingesting punicaligan in doses needed for pro-sexual and pro-prostate effects.
Of course, the urolithin/muscle study was rather short – only four months. It's quite possible that taking smaller doses, i.e., the amount you might get in a pomegranate/urolithin prostate support supplement might have similar muscle strengthening effects if taken for longer periods of time.
But even if its purported muscle-strengthening and performance-increasing effects don't pan out, it's worth taking anyhow for all the reasons listed above.
Don't think you can just eat pomegranates or drink the juice, though. That's a step in the right direction, but unfortunately, punicalagin is mainly present in the root, bark, and leaves of the pomegranate, none of which is used to make commercial pomegranate juice.
That's not to say that commercial pomegranate juices don't contain punicalagin; they do, just not much. That means the best way to augment your intake of punicalagin/ellagic acid/urolithin is to take a supplement.
Biotest was so high on punicalagin that they made it the backbone of P-Well™, their multi-functional supplement for vascular sexual health, urinary tract health, and prostate support. Each serving contains 180 mg. of punicalagin (from pomegranate), along with 30 mg. of lycopene from natural tomato extract and 500 mg. of cranberry whole fruit concentrate.
Together, the ingredients of P-Well™ should make you, well, pee well, or at least pee better. The product also helps support your all-too-vulnerable prostate and possibly allows you to enjoy a better sex life by improving testosterone levels and allowing more blood to flow into the penis when aroused. It may even make you stronger.
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