Punicic acid

Punicic acid (also called trichosanic acid) is a polyunsaturated fatty acid, 18:3 (n-5). It is named for the pomegranate, (Punica granatum), and is obtained from pomegranate seed oil. It is also found in the seed oils of snake gourd and bitter gourd.

Punicic acid is a conjugated linolenic acid or ClnA; i.e. it has three conjugated double bonds. It is chemically similar to the conjugated linoleic acids, or CLA, which have two. In lab rats, it was found that punicic acid was converted to the CLA rumenic acid (9Z11E-CLA). In vitro, it shows anticancer activity against prostate cancer cells. OLETF rats&mdash;a strain which becomes obese&mdash;remained relatively lean when punicic acid was added to their feed. Fat cells undergo programmed cell death when exposed to punicic acid from bitter-gourd oil.