A fruit shake tastes wonderfully sweet and fruity and is a great source of vitamins and antioxidants. In the age of the increasingly popular low carb diet, however, a pure fruit shake is almost a sin. After all, it provides a good amount of carbohydrates. The human body, however, doesn’t seem to think too much of low carb. After all, the heart and circulation stay healthy with fruit shakes – at least with a very specific fruit shake.

The fruit shake that protects the heart and blood vessels

A certain fruit shake is said to offer maximum protection against atherosclerosis – an enormous risk factor for heart attack and stroke – according to Israeli scientists in the March 2015 issue of the journal Food & Function.

How can this be possible?

Atherosclerosis describes deposits on the blood vessel walls, which leads to hardening and narrowing of the same.
The deposits consist largely of oxidized cholesterol particles. If the oxidation of cholesterol could be prevented, this would reduce the risk of arteriosclerosis enormously. Natural antioxidants can stop this oxidation process and thus make heart attacks and strokes a distant memory.

For 25 years now, Prof. Michael Aviram and his team of scientists at Israel’s oldest university, the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Rambam Medical Center, have been dedicated to isolating and researching precisely these antioxidants.

The recipe against arteriosclerosis: 1 glass of pomegranate date shake daily

According to Prof. Aviv, in order to consume the right antioxidants in the most effective combination, pomegranates and dates should be consumed daily (1).

The health benefits of pomegranates have long been known to researchers. The same goes for the excellent properties of dates. However, the fact that both fruits together have so much stronger effect than the sum of their individual effects would have suggested, eluded their previous knowledge.

Pomegranates, just like dates, are rich in various antioxidant polyphenols. These substances are all masters at preventing oxidative stress and thus the oxidation of cholesterol. At the same time, dates provide substances that stimulate the transport of cholesterol from the arterial wall cells back to the liver. (The liver releases cholesterol to the gallbladder, from where it is then excreted in the stool.) Mixing both fruits together gives you an antioxidant combination of outstanding power and effect.

Pomegranates and dates lower cholesterol by 28 percent

In studies on cells from arterial walls as well as on mice suffering from atherosclerosis, the scientists found that the triple combination of pomegranates, dates, and date kernels provided maximum protection against the development of atherosclerosis.

The pomegranate date shake reduced oxidative stress in artery walls by 33 percent and lowered cholesterol levels in arterial wall cells by 28 percent.

Therefore, Prof. Aviram recommends that healthy people and those at high risk of cardiovascular disease drink half a glass daily of the pomegranate date shake.

The Pomegranate Date Shake

Step 1

Mix about 120 ml of natural and unsweetened pomegranate juice with 3 unsweetened dates in a blender or personal blender.

Ideally, you make your own pomegranate juice. If you have an industrial high-speed blender you can also blend up the kernels of the dates and drink it with your shake to make it even more potent.