Does eating prunes every day improve bone health?
It’s well known that prunes can aid digestion and counteract constipation but recent research has revealed that they could also strengthen bones . Specifically, a study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that eating at least five or six prunes a day can reduce inflammatory markers linked to bone loss in menopausal women.
What does a new study say?
The authors of a larger investigation into the health benefits of prunes have discovered that this dried fruit could represent a valid natural ally to counteract osteoporosis , a condition that causes the weakening and subsequent easier breaking of bones, and which is quite common especially in menopausal women, due to the decline in the production of estrogen which protects bone mass.
Previous research had already found a connection between dried plums and improved bone health but this, being much broader than the previous ones, was able to analyze this relationship in more depth.
How did it happen?
To reach these conclusions, scientists recruited 183 women between the ages of 55 and 75 . Some were instructed to consume 50 grams of plums (about five or six) a day and others to eat double that amount, again daily. Finally, a third group did not consume plums.
The team collected blood samples from all the participants at the beginning of the study and at the end, after 12 months.
To assess how prune consumption may have affected bone health, the participants’ levels of proinflammatory cytokines were analyzed . The presence of the proteins signals inflammation in the body , which in turn underlies numerous chronic diseases, including osteoporosis.
The team found that, compared to people who didn’t eat prunes, women who consumed 50 or 100 grams of prunes per day had reduced levels of proinflammatory cytokines after one year , and likely improved bone health as a result .
Although the study opens up interesting scenarios, it is too early to draw definitive conclusions because it was conducted on a still too limited number of menopausal women, and all of them of Caucasian origin.
To affirm that eating prunes every day really improves bone health, further studies on a more diverse population are therefore necessary, even if it is already known how their composition can bring benefits from this point of view.
In fact, plums contain many nutrients that could explain their possible bone-strengthening effects , such as vitamin K , which helps transport calcium to the bones; potassium and magnesium which improve bone density ; boron which helps prevent calcium loss and bone demineralization ; and plant nutrients that help prevent oxidative damage to bone cells.
