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04.08.2024

Daily intake of 5 dried plums halts bone loss | Trial

If you eat 100 grams of dried plums every day, you will stop the decalcification of your bones, according to American research. You can read more about this here. 100 grams of dried plums equates to approximately 10 dried plums. If that's too much for you, half this amount will probably work just as well.

Study
In 2016, American researchers published a trial in Osteoporosis International in which 48 women aged 65-79 participated as test subjects. All women were in the early stages of osteoporosis. The California Dried Plum Board sponsored the study.

The researchers divided the women into 3 groups. For 6 months, one group ate 100 grams of dried plums and the second group 50 grams of dried plums every day. A third group did not eat prunes at all.

Both doses of dried plums stopped the breakdown of total bone mass and reduced the concentration of the enzyme tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b [TRAP-5b] in the women's blood. The higher the concentration of this enzyme, the more active the bone-degrading osteoclasts.

Click on the table above for a larger version.

Case
In 2021, researchers from Penn State University published a case study [Bone Rep. 2021 May 18:14:101094.], in which they followed a 55-year-old woman who consumed 1200 milligrams of calcium carbonate, 800 IU of vitamin D3 and 50 grams of prunes every day for 16 months. She did that of her own accord, by the way.

Before she started this cycle, the woman participated in a trial in which post-menopausal women received 1200 milligrams of calcium carbonate and 800 IU vitamin D3 daily.

Scans of the women's skeletons showed that supplementation with calcium and vitamin D3 could not stop the loss of bone mass, but the combination with prunes could - at least in most places.

Click on the figure below for a larger version.

Source:
Osteoporos Int. 2016 Jul;27(7):2271-9.

More:
Prunes boost IGF-1 levels in humans 24.05.2012
Animal study: combination of two foods plus supplement restores bone strength 18.02.2012

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