## 4 Discussion
While MPJ reduced weight gain in control rats (Figure 2), probably due to the mechanisms mentioned, more research is required to determine why MPJ did not reduce body mass in the 30% sucrose-treated groups. Cardiovascular disorders are among the leading causes of death and disability globally, and hypertension has a high worldwide prevalence and is the leading risk factor for developing cardio- and cerebrovascular disorders [39]. In this study, all groups receiving 30% sucrose water developed diastolic and systolic hypertension. MPJ treatment significantly (\(p<0.05\)) decreased systolic and diastolic pressures (Figure 3) in the treated groups. Pomeranate juice compounds have an antihypertensive effect [16; 40] so MPJ may have an inhibitory effect on angiotensin-converting enzyme [41; 42], reduce oxidative stress, improve mitochondrial function, reduce chronic sympathetic nervous system activation in the paraventricular nucleus [43], and/or enhance nitric oxide/cGMP pathway signaling, as well as increase nitric oxide synthase bioactivity [44]. Pomeranate juice has generally been shown to have a hypoglycemic effect in humans and rodents [45; 46; 47]. However, other studies in humans show no effect [48]. In this study, a trend of decreasing serum glucose levels was observed in the two higher-MPJ-treated groups (Figure 4, MetS + MPJ2 and MetS + MPJ3) as time progressed. The inconsistency in glucose levels may have been influenced by stress related to handling and manipulation, as well as potential variations in the metabolic response to diet and MPJ treatment. However, despite this inconsistency, a trend was still observed, and significant differences were noted at certain doses. As MPJ is a pomeranate-juice-based product, the action mechanismsshould be similar to those previously found for fresh PJ, such as enhancing insulin secretion (without changing fasting glucose) [49] and increasing insulin sensitivity [50; 51]. Ellagic acid (an essential component of pomergnanate juice) is also known to up-regulate Glut-4 and PPAR-\(\gamma\) and increase insulin sensitivity conferred by pioglitazone [52]. Ponicalagin has improved hyperglycemia, insulin, glutathione, and catalase activity levels in the streptozotocin-induced diabetic murine heart [53]. Pomergnanate juice inhibits the action of resistn (a cytokine implicated in insulin resistance in obese subjects) [50; 51], decreases inflammation, inhibits \(\alpha\)-glucosidase and \(\alpha\)-amylase, and maintains \(\beta\)-cell integrity [46]. Carotid atherosclerosis is a growing health problem; it is calculated that by 2020, 27.6% of adults aged 30-79 years will have carotid intima-media thickening worldwide, equivalent to 1066.70 million people [54]. Diabetes, smoking, and hypertension are the most frequent risk factors for increased carotid intima-media thickness and carotid plaque [54], so this problem is closely related to MetS. In this study, serum triglyceride levels (Figure 7) significantly differed between the groups that did not receive 30% sucrose and those that did. Our results showed an excellent hypotriglyceric effect. Reports on the impact of pomergnanate on triglycerides vary depending on the fraction or part of the pomergnanate studied. For example, researchers reported increased triglyceride levels after administering pomergnanate seed oil [55], while pomergnanate seeds did not affect plasma triglyceride levels in another study [56]. In a study conducted by our research group, pomergnanate juice diluted in water administered to diabetized CD-1 mice fed a high-fat diet had a hypotriglyceric effect [57]. It was also observed that MPJ administered orally in women with acute coronary syndrome for 30 days decreased triglyceride levels [23]. These results agree with those of [PERSON] et al. [58]; they supplemented subjects with hypertriglyceridemia with pomergnanate seed oil capsules for four weeks, and a significant decrease in triglyceride levels, triglyceride/HDL ratio, and HDL cholesterol was found.