Pom Wonderful

“POM Wonderful” is a brand of pomegranate juice. It is manufactured by a company owned by Linda and Stewart Resnick, California billionaires who pretty much single-handedly created a multi-million dollar market for pomegranate juice where none existed before. Or, as LA Times columnist Michael Hilzik wrote,


 * "It has long been clear that the most wonderful thing about Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice is the spectacular marketing skill that persuades consumers to fork over their hard-earned cash for a liquid that sells for five to six times the price of, oh, cranberry juice.

"He’s right about the expense: a daily 8 oz. dose of POM Wonderful juice costs about $780 annually according to a recent Federal Trade Commission case, which we’ll get to soon.

"The Resnicks parlayed their success selling pomegranate juice into two additional products, both dietary supplements, in the form of POMx pills and POMx liquid. The Resnicks and their companies have shelled out $35 million in sponsored research to determine what health benefits might arise from ingesting pomegranate juice or its components, research they have not been shy about using in touting their products. The couple apparently has a flair for taking the mundane and making it appear, well, wonderful to the consumer – they also own Fiji Water and the Franklin Mint, among other business interests..."

"It is not difficult to design research studies to give sponsors the answers they want and to make sure they are conducted well. POM is getting the best research that money can buy. One such study, of the effects of drinking pomegranate juice on myocardial perfusion (MP, blood flow to the heart), was conducted by Dr. Dean Ornish, who runs a preventive medicine institute in California..." 

"Another key ally was Dr Ephraim Lansky, also at the Technion Institute, who had developed a pomegranate pill called CardioGranate, sold 'in a fancy bottle out of Israel, mainly to the States', according to one British researcher. Most impressively, POM Wonderful managed to hire the eminent Dr Louis Ignarro, a Nobel laureate who received his prize for work on nitric oxide, a ' factor' released by the lining of blood vessels which acts as a vasodilator (opening up vessels in the same way as Viagra) and improves cardiovascular function. His work and many other projects are co-ordinated by Dr Harley Liker, medical director of POM Wonderful and a physician at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Stewart Resnick's old college, and a recent recipient of more than $3m (£1.75m) from the Princess of Wales Memorial Fund legal settlement." 

Supporters

 * Denis R. Miller
 * David Heber
 * Dean Ornish
 * Arthur Burnett
 * Irwin Goldstein
 * Jean deKernion
 * Ronald Butters
 * David Reibstein

Contact
Web: http://www.pomwonderful.com

Related Sourcewatch

 * Council for Responsible Nutrition
 * Steve Henig
 * Michael Davidson
 * Bradley Gillespie
 * Mark Dreher
 * Leslie Dornfeld
 * Michael Aviram
 * Risa Schulman
 * Allan Pantuck
 * C.P. Forest and [[H. Padma