Prunes, or dried plums, are full of healthy surprises. Once mainly known as a laxative in a box, the wrinkly fruit recently rose to diet stardom thanks to evidence that it boosts fat loss and heart health.
Now it turns out that, in the world of fruits and vegetables, prunes are all-stars at building bone density.
This became evident when a team of state university researchers from Florida and Oklahoma gave one group of postmenopausal women 10 dried plums every day for a year, while a second group ate 3.5 ounces of dried apples. All the women in both groups took daily doses of calcium (500 mg) and vitamin D (400 IU).
The prune eaters wound up with significantly denser bones in their forearms and spines than the apple eaters. Why? The prunes slowed the rate of bone breakdown, which starts outpacing the rate of new bone growth as you age. A related lab study on animals found that eating dried plums could restore bone mass after the loss had already occurred. Yes, as in menopause. Way to go, prunes!
Just how impressive are prunes? "I have tested numerous fruits, including figs, dates, strawberries, and raisins," one of the researchers noted. "None have come anywhere close to producing the effect on bones that prunes do."
Read what Drs. Oz and Roizen have to say about prunes' surprising health payoffs.
Osteoporosis 101: Get the lowdown on keeping up with your bones.
Bone up on bone health: Get tips for stronger bones with this health assessment tool.
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References
Comparative effects of dried plum and dried apple on bone in postmenopausal women. Hooshmand S. et al., British Journal of Nutrition 2011 Sep; 106(6):923–930.
Short-term effects of a snack including dried prunes on energy intake and satiety in normal-weight individuals. Farajian P. et al., Eating Behaviors 2010 Aug; 11(3):201–203.
Dried plum reverses bone loss in an osteopenic rat model of osteoporosis. Deyhim F. et al., Menopause 2005 Nov-Dec; 12(6):755–762.
Dried plums improve indices of bone formation in postmenopausal women. Arjmandi, B.H. et al., Journal of Women's Health and Gender-Based Medicine 2002 Jan-Feb; 11(1): 61–68.
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