Eating Prunes Can Help Slow Down Bone Loss And Reduce The Risk Of Fractures
When it comes to building strong bones, we always turn to milk. But according to a new study, prunes should be a part of your daily diet because they can help slow down bone loss and reduce the risk of bone fractures.
Bones are constantly remodeling themselves. Old bones are replaced with newer ones using specialized bone cells.
As we age, this process declines. Our bodies continue breaking down old bones, but new material isn’t replacing the old bones in time.
Older women, in particular, are at higher risk of a bone disease called osteoporosis, which causes bone mass and density to decrease.
This changes the structure of the bones, making them weak and brittle. As a result, those with osteoporosis are more prone to injuries. More than 10 million Americans have osteoporosis.
Currently, there is no cure for osteoporosis. However, prunes can be extremely beneficial for bone health. In the new study, a research team from Penn State created a 12-month trial with 235 older women as participants.
“This is the first randomized controlled trial to look at three-dimensional bone outcomes with respect to bone structure, geometry, and estimated strength,” Mary Jane De Souza, a professor of kinesiology and physiology at Penn State, said.
“In our study, we saw that daily prune consumption impacted factors related to fracture risk. That’s clinically invaluable.”
The women were assigned to one of three groups: eating no prunes, eating four to six prunes daily (50 grams), or eating 10 to 12 prunes daily (100 grams.)
Julio Ricco – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Every six months, a peripheral quantitative computed tomography scan was conducted on the women to measure their bone mass density, bone strength, and bone geometry.
After one year, the results of the experiment showed that women who did not eat prunes had less bone mass density and strength in the shin bone.
In contrast, women who ate prunes daily saw a boost in their bone health. Those who consumed four to six prunes every day maintained bone density, strength, and structure, especially in the cortical bone.
It is recommended to eat four to six prunes every day rather than 10 to 12. The researchers noted that people who consumed 10 to 12 prunes per day were more likely to drop out of the study because they got bored of eating so many.
The latest study demonstrates the advantages that prunes have over other treatments for bone health.
Everyone can benefit from eating more prunes, but it’s particularly helpful for older adults and women.
So, if you want to improve your bone health and avoid fractures, all it takes is eating four prunes a day! Further research is needed to determine if eating prunes can decrease the risk of osteoporosis.
The study was published in the journal Osteoporosis International.
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