Augusta Caligiani 
Pomegranate 
Chemistry, Processing and Health Benefits

Augusta Caligiani was born in 1973. In 1997 she obtained the Master Degree in Chemistry at the University of Parma, where in 2000 she completed cum laude a Master in Food Chemistry and Technology. In 2006 she obtained the Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology and from 2005 she is Research Associate in Food Chemistry at the University of Parma. The research activities of Augusta Caligiani covers many aspects of the chemistry of foods: development of analytical methods for detection of food bioactive compounds, chiral analysis, food lipids profiling, food aroma fingerprinting, and food metabolomics by NMR techniques. She has published 38 papers on international peer-reviewed journals listed on the ISI data bank, 4 publications on non-ISI journals, 3 book chapters and more than 50 contributes in national and international congresses. Her papers were cited more than 400 times and she has an H-index of 11. She is also reviewer for many Journals in the field of food science. She received three "Best Poster Award" in Italian and International congresses. She participated to National and European projects and she is scientific coordinator for many contracts with private Food Companies and for an agreement with an Italian Control Body in the food sector. Pomegranates are increasingly distributed and consumed worldwide both as fresh fruit or processed products, like juices and food supplements. The present commercial success of this fruit and its purported health benefits are associated with an impressive increase of scientific research published on the pomegranate. The huge amount of new data produced every year by the scientific community necessitates a periodic review of the results. The aim of this book is to provide an update of the results in pomegranate research. Each chapter is conceived as an in-depth, state-of-the art compilation on the main topics regarding pomegranates. This is to ensure the status of a reference manual for all the scientists approaching different aspects of pomegranate research and to the industrial sector in order to improve/develop the pomegranate chain. The choice of an edited collection originates from the need to have different specializations and a multi-disciplinary approach to describe all the different topics related to pomegranates, spanning from botany, chemistry, and nutrition to technology and medical research. Topics discussed in this book include pomegranate biodiversity and phytochemical composition of pomegranate pulp, peels, seeds and oil; polyphenols antioxidant activity, bioavailability and metabolism by gut microbiota; current evidence supporting the benefits of pomegranate products in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease and cancer; allergies to pomegranate; pomegranate processing and recovery of waste from pomegranate juice production for their possible re-use as a source of nutraceuticals.Target Audience:This book is conceived as high academic level. The proposed book is dedicated to all the scientific community, however it can be useful also for industries of pomegranate processing or for food supplements producers.