Can prunes reverse bone loss?

[Guest guest]

Thought this was interesting!

 

Jane

 

Can prunes reverse bone loss?

 

by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD

 

My friend and fellow osteoporosis researcher Dr. Bahram Arjmandi says

yes, the humble prune can reverse bone loss, and his research data is

looking strong. For more than a decade Dr. Arjmandi of Florida State

University in Tallahassee has tested a wide variety of " functional

foods " for their potential impact on bone health. He has studied soy,

blueberries, strawberries, raisins, dates, and finally prunes. No

other natural substance, he reports, comes near to having the

bone-building effect of prunes. Further, when I saw him at the ASBMR

international bone meeting last fall, he reported he had never seen

any natural substance produce such consistent beneficial bone-building

results.

Dr. Arjmandi's several successful animal and human studies document

that special phenolic compounds in dried plums up-regulate growth

factors linked to bone formation (such as IGF-1) and counter the

activity of factors that inhibit bone formation (such as TNF-alpha).

It probably also helps that prunes are one of the foods highest in

antioxidants and also contain generous amounts of various key bone

nutrients including potassium, boron, and copper. While Dr. Arjmandi

has found other natural substances capable of halting bone loss,

prunes were the only food found to actually restore lost bone.

This summer Dr. Arjmandi and colleagues will complete a landmark,

controlled human clinical trial on prunes and bone health. For this

study, 120 post-menopausal women have been taking either 100 grams of

prunes (9-10 a day) or an equivalent portion of dried apples for one

year. While it will be a few more months before all the research data

is in, thus far 30 women in the prune group have had at least a 6%

increase in hip bone, and one woman had an exceptional 11% increase

consuming prunes over the year. Preliminary data from a segment of

research subjects found that all prune-eaters showed at least some

improvement in bone mass by six months into the study.

For several years I have heard Dr. Arjmandi speak of his prune

research and read many of his research articles. It makes sense: if

you could limit factors that hinder bone formation, such as

inflammation and oxidative stress, and at the same time up-regulate

new bone formation growth factors, and provide key bone nutrients, you

could well accomplish the unthinkable and stimulate new bone formation

with a simple, wholesome food substance.

At the Center for Better Bones, a group of us (including myself) are

doing their own " prune experiment. " If you are inclined to join us,

take Dr. Arjmandi's advice and start slowly with a few prunes a day,

working up to the full 9-10 over time. I have found soaked or stewed

prunes are easier to digest, and Dr. Arjmandi has found that prunes do

not lead to either weight gain or increased blood sugar levels. Also

they should help build new bone in men as well as women.

References: Arjmandi, BH et al. 2002. Dried plums improve indices of

bone formation in postmenopausal women. Journal of Women's Health &

Gender-Based Medicine, 11:61-68.

Hooshmand, S and Arjmandi, BH. 2009. Viewpoint: Dried plum, an

emerging functional food that may effectively improve bone health.

Ageing Res Rev, Apr 8:122-7.

Yours in good health,