PLUMS COULD SAVE YOUR BONES

Yes, the word is out that Dried Plums or Prunes have a unique nutrient and dietary bioactive profile that has proved beneficial to bone health.  Prunes are bursting with antioxidants like polyphenols, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and fiber. They’re great at killing free radicals that attack your cells, which means they’re helpful to your bones too.  Better still, prunes also contain Vitamin K1, which is anti-inflammatory and thus helpful, because it helps prevent excessive osteoclast (a type of bone cell that breaks down bone tissue) activation, while the soluble and insoluble fibers inside prunes, like pectin, fructans, and cellulose, help your bones absorb the minerals they need to stay dense.

As you can see, all these vitamins and minerals work together like a construction-crew for your bones, each playing their own role in creating the foundation and supporting parts of the healthy bone.

Recent Dietary Guidelines have advocated increasing fruit intake and replacing energy-dense foods with nutrient-dense foods. Our bones need to carry us for life, so it is important to pay attention to their needs,  and ramping up your plum intake is actually quite an enjoyable way to ensure bone health.

Some alarming facts about Osteoporosis, also known as the “Bone Thinning Disease”.

•             Osteoporosis affects over 25 million people each year

•             80% of the people with Osteoporosis are women, and 80% of women over the age of 65 have the disease.

•             Osteoporosis causes one and a half million fractures each year

•             After menopause, women lose about 1%-2% of their bone density each year.

•             Although the vast majority of Osteoporosis sufferers are women, 1.5 million men are also affected and a further 3.5 million are at risk.

•             Nearly half of all women, by the age of 80, have had a fracture of their spine.

It’s good to know that a simple fruit like a dried plum has such beneficial effects on the bones, which may be due to the variety of phenolics present in the fruit. Animal and cell studies demonstrate that dried plums and their extracts actually enhance bone formation and inhibit bone resorption!