Called PomActiv Forte, the new addition is made from partially-hydrogenized seeds, which means it is made up of a combination of 40 percent complex punicosides together with free elegiac acid.
The original PomActiv, launched last year, is made from fully hydrogenised seeds resulting in relatively pure ellagic acid.
President Gilbert Gluck told NutraIngredients-USA.com that both ingredients have 70 percent ellagic acid overall. Just 36mg of either one contains the same amount of antioxidants as one glass of pomegranate juice.
"You can fit many times the amount of ellagic acid in a supplement as you can in a drink," he said.
Marketing director Charlene Lee said: "Today's active consumer lifestyle leaves little time and inclination to obtain the necessary doses of antioxidants from freshly prepared foods; therefore, the convenience of high-dose antioxidant supplements has never been more attractive to individuals who want to enjoy health and well-being."
There has recently been quite a buzz about the antioxidant properties of pomegranates, thanks to the publication of a number of studies in peer-reviewed journals.
A study published in the September 16 issue of the Journal of Cardiology indicated that daily consumption of pomegranate juice may improve stress-induced myocardial ischemia in coronary heart disease patients. This latest evidence builds on earlier research into pomegranate's benefits for the heart: last year researchers in Israel reported in Clinical Nutrition that it may prevent the thickening of arteries and slow down cholesterol oxidation by almost half.
There are also positive signs that pomegranate could help prevent certain cancers. In 2001, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology reported that pomegranate seed oil triggered apoptosis in breast cancer cells; and just last month researchers from the University of Wisconsin reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition that extract of the fruit had a dose-dependant effect on human prostate cancer cells cultured in laboratory dishes.
Since most of the human studies conducted to date use pomegranate juice, there has been a trend among pomegranate ingredient suppliers to align their products more closely with the profile of the natural fruit.