Can pomegranate juice lower stress levels at work?

A new study shows 'a significant reduction in the level of stress' with 500ml of daily pomegranate. What else would help?

Can pomegranate really lower stress levels? What else might help at work? Photograph: Adrian Mueller - Fabrik Studios/Getty
I got properly drenched on the way to the station this morning, then my train was delayed by 20 minutes en route to the office – hardly the most becalming of starts to the week. So having arrived at my desk holding a large, caffeinated cup of coffee, my eye was turned by a study from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, claiming my stress levels at work could be reduced by drinking more pomegranate juice.

For the study, 60 volunteers were asked to drink 500ml per day of a specific brand of pomegranate juice – Pomegreat Pure – over a two-week period. The research apparently concluded that daily consumption caused "a significant reduction in the level of stress hormone cortisol in saliva and a significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure in all volunteers."

From reducing the risk of prostate cancer to lowering cholesterol levels, Alzheimer's to arthritis, pomegranates and their many supposed health benefits have been well documented (read my colleague Oliver Thring's affectionate ode to this fascinating fruit here). Much of this research is paid for by juice manufacturers, so it comes as no surprise to find this particular study is funded by Pomegreat Pure.

No doubt consuming more fruit (and perhaps some juices) will help you achieve a healthier lifestyle, and therefore feel better. I've got nothing in particular against Pomegreat Pure, even though it does apparently contain more sugar than Coca-Cola, and the Edinburgh researchers are planning to present some of the results at a conference in Barcelona later this year so maybe there is something to the theory. (Or then again, maybe not.)

But I sometimes wonder if studies like this aren't obscuring a more serious problem. The biggest causes – and therefore moderators – of stress at work are the same as they have always been: hard issues surrounding long, inflexible working hours, lengthy commutes, overwork, low pay, discrimination, the threat of redundancy and so on.