Is Pomegranate safe while breastfeeding?
Here is what NIH LactMed, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's authority on medicines and breastfeeding, reports about Pomegranate. This is a summary of that source — not our own verdict.
Effects on the breastfed infant
Twelve exclusively breastfeeding mothers of full-term infants consumed 8 fluidounces of pomegranate juice daily for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, the infant stool samples had significant increases in the abundance of bacteria from the phylum Firmicutes (genus Lachnoclostridium and Staphylococcus ). Infants whose mothers milk contained urolithin B-glucuronide (metabotype B) showed significant differences in 4 bacteria, with 2 bacteria from the phyla Firmicutes (genus Veillonella ) and Bacteroidetes (genus Bacteroides and Parabacteroides ) and Bifidobacterium . Infant stool Blautia was positively corelated with breastmilk and plasma urolithin B-glucuronide and infant stool Enterococcus was inversely related to breastmilk maternal plasma urolithin B-glucuronide, and maternal plasma urolithin B-glucuronide and dimethyl ellagic acid glucuronide.[ 1 ] An open-label, nonblinded study randomized mothers of newborn infants to receive either concentrated pomegranate juice 15 mL 3 times daily or nothing (i.e., no placebo control). There were 43 mother-infant pairs in each group. The concentrate was made from the juice of fresh pomegranates concentrated at a warm temperature to a Brix of 60%. The total phenol content was 13.56 mg/g and the total flavonoid was 1.39 mg/g. All of the infants were over 72 hours old, had a gestational age over 37 weeks and birth weight over 2500 grams. Both groups were being treated with phototherapy for hyperbilirubinemia (total serum bilirubin level over 15 mg/dL). There was a greater decrease in bilirubin levels in the pomegranate group at 48 and 72 hours after the start of phototherapy and at 48 hours after discharge. In addition, the mean duration of phototherapy in the pomegranate group was significantly shorter (52 hours compared to 65 hours) than in the no-pomegranate group. All infants in the pomegranate group were discharged by 96 hours after the start of treatment compared to 114 hours in the no-pomegranate group. No side effects were observed
Effects on milk supply
Relevant published information was not found as of the revision date.
Levels in milk
Pomegranate juice contains ellagitannins that are metabolized to ellagic acid. Intestinal bacteria convert ellagic acid to urolithins that are absorbed by the mother and can appear in breastmilk. Maternal Levels. Twelve exclusively breastfeeding mothers of full-term infants consumed 8 fluidounces of pomegranate juice daily for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, breastmilk samples contained a median of 10.7 nmol/L of urolithin A-glucuronide. Two women had urolithin B-glucuronide in their milk in concentrations of 0.5 and 11.9 nmol/L. In addition, the microbiome of breastmilk was altered with a decrease in Lactococcus , Subdoligranulum , and Acinetobacter , and an increase in Firmicutes such as Faecalibacterium .[ 1 ] Infant Levels. Twelve exclusively breastfeeding mothers of full-term infants consumed 8 fluidounces of pomegranate juice daily for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, all of their exclusively breastfed infants urine samples contained urolithin A-glucuronide in a median concentration of 18.1 nmol/L. The urine of 2 infants whose mothers milk contained urolithin B-glucuronide contained it also in a median concentration of 1.8 nmol/L. Five other infants urine contained dimethyl ellagic acid glucuronide in concentration ranging from 0.8 to 17.5 nmol/L.[ 1 ]
Source: NIH LactMed (National Library of Medicine).
Educational summary of an authoritative source — not medical advice. Never start, stop, or change a medicine while breastfeeding without confirming with your doctor.