19 August 2008 - Cranberry expert Ocean Spray launches its latest delicious juice drink, Cranberry Pomegranate, in the New Zealand market.

This brand new flavour is bursting with mouth-watering goodness, combining the refreshingly crisp taste of the cranberry with the sweet tang of the pomegranate. The two flavours complement one another to create a heavenly blend - perfect to enjoy any time throughout the day.

It's a juice partnership with a health story too: cranberries are known to have a number of health benefits due to their unique natural compounds which adhere to bad bacteria and assist in flushing them out of the body, detoxifying the whole system, and pomegranates boast amazing goodness as well.

The pomegranate is an ancient fruit with a rich history linked to health, fertility and rebirth. One of the earliest cultivated fruits, the pomegranate has been traced back as far as 3,000 B.C. - some scholars even suggest that it was a pomegranate, not an apple, that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden.

The appeal of the pomegranate transcended the ages and different cultures; King Tut and other ancient Egyptians were buried with pomegranates in hopes of a second life and according to Greek mythology the goddess Persephone's taste for the pomegranate resigned her to several months in the underworld.

Fast forward to the twenty-first century and the pomegranate is still creating a great deal of excitement. Medical and scientific researchers have found pomegranates may assist in fighting heart disease, cancer and problems associated with aging due to the antioxidants, vitamins, potassium, folic acid and iron in the fruit.

Research has found that eight ounces (240ml) of pomegranate juice daily, for three months, can improve the amount of oxygen travelling to the heart muscle of patients with coronary heart disease (American Journal of the College of Cardiology, September 2005). Preliminary investigations in mice have also shown that pomegranate compounds may be able to prevent prostate cancer or slow its growth (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 26, 2005).

Even arthritis may yield to the power of pomegranates. Scientists at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio have reported that tissue cultures of human cartilage cells respond to pomegranate extract with reduced inflammation and less activity in the enzymes that break down cartilage (Journal of Nutrition, September 2005).

Ocean Spray's Cranberry Pomegranate juice drink will be available in September from leading supermarkets nationally, RRP $5.60 (1.5L). For more information, call Ocean Spray® toll free 0800 445 368 or visit www.oceanspray.com.au.