Pomegranates are popping up in healthy places
LOS ANGELES -- Running just one marathon would be a big deal for most. But Francisco Rodriguez, 56, has run 150 in the past 20 years, including eight last year. Six more are on his calendar for 2007.
Popeye had his spinach. For Rodriguez, it's pomegranate — specifically the bottle of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice he drinks after every race. The juice, he says, is his "secret weapon," because it wards off fatigue that hamstrings many long-distance runners. "The next day, I'm totally recovered," he says. "It's like I've never run."
He can thank Lynda Resnick, who as founder of POM Wonderful helped kick off the pomegranate-juice craze in 2002 and is largely responsible for the fact many Americans have added pomegranates to their daily diets.
Resnick is a modern-day Johnny Appleseed for the pomegranate. Using clever ads, generally with slogans of five words or less, such as "Override your genetics," POM Wonderful has made the pomegranate trendy. "We've reinvented the pomegranate," she says.
POM Wonderful is a private company and doesn't release financials. But its signature bottles, shaped like orbs stacked on top of each other, are found in grocery stores across the USA at $3.99 for a 16-ounce bottle.
Pomegranate mania
While there is little medical evidence supporting the fruit's lofty health claims, pomegranates are popping up everywhere. Oprah loves a pomegranate martini. POM Wonderful last year launched a line of pomegranate teas. Tropicana launched a pomegranate fruit drink last year. Starbucks has a pomegranate-flavored Frappuccino. Former financier Michael Milken, a friend of Resnick's who has funded extensive research in healthful foods, adds POM Wonderful's pomegranate extract to a shake he and his wife drink every morning. "I attribute this greatly to my health," he says.
Popularizing the obscure fruit and making it a sensation has been a case study in entrepreneurship. Resnick, a spunky woman who politely declines to give her age but carries herself with the swagger of a 20-year-old, overcame several hurdles to build the business.
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