Are Prunes Good for Osteoporosis?

The nutrients you eat have a huge impact on your health. Eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, and other foods that include different nutrients is a great strategy for general health, but sometimes it is important to have a more targeted approach. Incorporating certain foods that can benefit bone health is definitely worth considering. Research has found that prunes seem to be particularly beneficial for bone health.

A recent study from The American Journey of Clinical Nutrition looked at how prune consumption can affect bone health. In this study, the bone mineral density (BMD) of over 200 women between the ages of 55-70 was tracked for a year as they ate either 5-6 prunes (50 grams) or 10-12 prunes (100 grams) per day.

According to the study, both groups (50 and 100 grams) showed beneficial effects on their hip BMD after 6 months. Those benefits persisted even after a year. Why might this be the case? Studies have suggested that dried prunes contain compounds with bone-protective effects (Arjmandi, 2017). The overall conclusion: Prunes are a nutritious and sweet treat that happens to also be good for your bone health. So eat your prunes!