Punicic acid (also called trichosanic acid) is a polyunsaturated fatty acid, 18:3 cis-9, trans-11, cis-13. It is named for the pomegranate, (Punica granatum), and is obtained from pomegranate seed oil.
It has also been found in the seed oils of snake gourd.[1]
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. It has also been classified as an "n-5" or "omega-5" polyunsaturated fatty acid. In lab rats, punicic acid was converted to the CLA rumenic acid (9Z11E-CLA).[2]In vitro, it shows anti-invasive activity against prostate cancer cells.[3] OLETF rats—a strain which becomes obese—remained relatively lean when punicic acid was added to their feed.[4]
^Lansky E, Harrison G, Froom P, Jiang W (2005). "Pomegranate (Punica granatum) pure chemicals show possible synergistic inhibition of human PC-3 prostate cancer cell invasion across Matrigel". Invest New Drugs. 23 (2): 121–2. doi:10.1007/s10637-005-5856-7. PMID15744587. S2CID5867887.