Your bones present the core framework on your physique. So, defending your bones helps shield your total well being. A examine1 revealed within the Journal of Vitamin by scientists from Pennsylvania State College discovered that consuming prunes day by day could assist decrease inflammatory markers related to bone loss in postmenopausal girls.
A number of elements impression bone density and enhance the chance of osteoporosis and osteopenia. Apparently, wholesome bones will not be stable. The inside is created in a honeycomb construction that improves bone energy whereas decreasing weight. With bone mineral loss, the holes within the honeycomb construction get bigger and the outer partitions change into thinner.
With decrease bone density, your danger for fractures is larger. Nonetheless, low bone density has additionally been related to a number of different well being circumstances unrelated to your musculoskeletal system. For instance:
- In 2018,2 researchers discovered sufferers with continual coronary heart failure additionally had decrease bone mineral density.
- A 2022 examine3 checked out bone mineral density in kids with congenital cyanotic coronary heart illness. The researchers discovered that 15.4% of the kids had bone mineral density discount and one other 33.3% had a Z-score between -1 and -2, indicating bone mineral loss.
- One other 2022 examine4 regarded on the causal affiliation between bone mineral density and coronary heart failure from a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization examine. The info recommended a causal relationship of coronary heart failure with low whole physique bone mineral density, however the reverse was not discovered.
- In 2024,5 a examine discovered an affiliation between bone mineral density and incident dementia.
The sum of the analysis means that low bone mineral density impacts way over simply your musculoskeletal system.
Prunes Could Assist Bone Well being and Decrease Irritation
The featured examine6 from Pennsylvania State College suggests prunes could considerably cut back inflammatory cytokines and activated monocytes that drive continual irritation. It was a secondary evaluation within the Prune Research, a single-center, 12-month randomized managed trial of postmenopausal girls. A gaggle of 235 girls aged 55 to 75 had been recruited and 183 accomplished the examine.
The ladies had been assigned to one in every of three teams. The management group didn’t eat prunes, whereas the 2 intervention teams ate both 50 grams or 100 grams of prunes per day. Prunes are dried plums, and one pitted prune is roughly 9.5 g.7
The researchers took blood samples at baseline and once more at 12 months to measure C-reactive protein, pro-inflammatory cytokines and a number of other different metrics, together with activation of circulating monocytes. “Bone loss is a major concern impacting greater than 50% of ladies over age 50, and there’s no remedy,” stated Principal Investigator Mary Jane De Souza, Ph.D., Professor, Division of Kinesiology, Pennsylvania State College, including:8
“Whereas medicines and hormone therapies can be found, they usually require lifelong administration and include dangers. It’s essential to have a greater understanding of how non-pharmacological approaches — like way of life and dietary selections — also can impression the development and mitigation of bone loss.”
The reductions in inflammatory cytokines had been noticed in individuals who ate 5 to 12 prunes day by day. Those that consumed 50 g of prunes had decrease ranges of tumor necrosis issue alpha and people consuming 100 g of prunes every day had a discount in interleukin-1b, interleukin-6 and interleukin-8, in addition to activated monocytes.
These reductions in oxidative stress markers assist protect bone well being.9 The contributors additionally acquired day by day dietary supplements of 1,200 mg of calcium and 800 IU of vitamin D to fulfill the advisable dietary allowance. In a press launch, De Souza commented on these findings and a earlier examine, saying:
“These findings add to a rising physique of analysis and curiosity investigating the position of ‘meals as medication’ and complement different research I’ve carried out utilizing the identical knowledge.
For instance, the earlier examine I led confirmed connections between hip bone integrity and day by day consumption of prunes — the place postmenopausal girls who didn’t eat prunes misplaced 1.5% of their hip bone density in comparison with girls who ate 5-6 prunes day by day. Collectively, these findings have vital sensible significance given the prevalence of bone loss amongst this inhabitants.”
Different Advantages of Prunes
There’s 7.1 g of fiber in 100 g of prunes or roughly 10 prunes.10 In keeping with the U.S. Division of Agriculture,11 the typical American consumes simply 16 g of fiber every day whereas the day by day sufficient consumption for fiber is about at 25 g for ladies and 38 g for males.
Nonetheless, whenever you add extra fiber to your food regimen, it is essential to do it steadily and embody loads of consuming water. With out ample hydration, the added fiber could result in constipation.
In keeping with a 2020 paper,12 continual idiopathic constipation impacts between 9% and 20% of adults within the U.S. That may be a significant slice of the inhabitants affected by rare bowel actions, which in 2010, triggered 2.8 million ambulatory and emergency room visits.
A number of elements affect the event of constipation, reminiscent of dehydration, low-fiber food regimen, sure medicines or regularly avoiding the urge to have a bowel motion, which will increase the chance of growing dry exhausting stool.
Prebiotic, fiber-rich meals13,14,15,16 reminiscent of prunes and lots of different vegetables and fruit additionally assist nourish pleasant intestine micro organism by giving them the vitamins they should survive and thrive, and a wholesome intestine microbiome has additionally been proven to play a task in stopping the event and development of bone problems, reminiscent of osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.17
Ripe fruit, uncooked honey and maple syrup are wholesome or “clear” carbohydrates. In a 2023 interview with Georgie Dinkov, he recommended that consuming a small quantity of wholesome carbs earlier than mattress can assist decrease a nighttime rise in cortisol and enhance sleep.
However not all fruit is created equally. Pineapple and bananas, for example, include serotonin, and bananas include tryptophan, which is used within the synthesis of serotonin. Serotonin is an antimetabolite, which suggests it suppresses your physique’s capacity to create power within the mitochondria. You change into fatigued, your metabolic price slows and also you achieve weight.
Prunes may be the right night snack as they’re excessive in fiber, low in energy, present clear carbohydrates to advertise high quality sleep, decrease your inflammatory response and shield your bone well being via a number of pathways.
Different Methods to Shield Bone Well being
Apparently, enhancing your sleep high quality also can enhance your bone density. A 2020 examine18 of postmenopausal girls discovered that girls who slept solely 5 hours or much less per night time had decrease bone density than those that slept seven or extra hours. Brief sleepers had decrease density in the entire physique, hip, femoral neck and backbone. Different methods that may assist forestall osteoporosis and help bone well being embody:19,20
• Vitamin D, calcium, magnesium and vitamin K2 MK-7 — As I describe in “Vitamin K2 Is Vital for Vascular Well being,” this mixture of nutritional vitamins and minerals improves your absorption and distribution of calcium within the physique. This helps calcium reaching the bones and enamel as an alternative of being deposited within the arterial system, the place it will increase your danger of vascular illness.
• Train — Weight bearing workouts and energy coaching will enhance each muscle and bone energy.
• Way of life selections — Selections that negatively have an effect on bone well being embody smoking, extreme consumption of alcohol and mushy drinks, and a sedentary way of life.
• Protein, together with collagen — Whereas protein is extra generally related to constructing muscle mass, it’s also essential to help bone well being. As a basic guideline, you need roughly 15% of your day by day energy to be protein, and one-third of that (5%), must be collagen. About 30% of your bone is collagen, making it an important dietary element to stop osteoporosis (age-related bone loss).
Your muscle fibers additionally include a great deal of collagen, to not point out your tendons and ligaments, so you’ll be able to’t construct muscle both in the event you don’t have sufficient collagen.