Prunes: The Dried Fruit That Can Boost Your Health In Older Life
You probably already know that strength training and calcium can help to keep your bones healthy and strong as you age. But some factors – like getting enough vitamin D, which helps to absorb calcium, and avoiding smoking, which raises your risk of osteoporosis and is linked to a 30-40% higher risk of broken hips – are less obvious. And in one study, prunes, which are high in anti-inflammatory polyphenols and calcium-balancing vitamin K, appeared to preserve bone density and strength at weight-bearing parts of the hip for post-menopausal women. What did the research show? The researchers followed a group of 235 postmenopausal women, who are at greater risk of bone loss, over a year. They told one group to eat 50g (about five to six prunes) a day during the trial, and another group to eat 100g a day. A third group didn’t eat any prunes at all. Though both prune levels were beneficial, the first group (50g) were more likely to stick to the habit, which meant they tended to get better results. …
