Pomegranate fruits have been cultivated since historic times as symbols of fertility, royalty, hope and abundance. Its herbal use dates back to more than 300 years. Celebrated in art, mythology, religious texts and literature for centuries. Some have suggested that it was pomegranate, not an apple that led to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The pomegranate probably originated in Iran and Afghanistan and was brought to China a century and a half before the Christian era. The pomegranate tree leaf, in the Zoroastrian religion is considered as the representative of the vegetable world which supplies sustenance to man and much used in rituals and domestic observances.
Pomegranate is freely sold in the United States as a fruit juice. Grocery store pomegranate juices are not usually standardized and a large part of the price you pay goes to cover the cost of shipping the heavy glass bottles, which contain mostly water. A recent profusion of pomegranate nutraceutical products, "standardized to 40% ellagic acid," has appeared in the marketplace.