Dried plums may help astronauts build better bones

Exciting new animal research, published in Scientific Reports¹ suggests that dried plums (prunes) may help to prevent bone loss in those exposed to radiation, such as astronauts in space. This research is timely as a year-long space mission to help scientists better understand the effects of space on the human body is about to conclude in March.

Additionally, radiation workers and those who receive radiation therapy as part of a treatment for cancer are also subject to possible bone loss from exposure to radiation. While dried plums have been linked to bone health in previous studies, this emerging research explores their bone-preserving role specific to radiation exposure.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco and Veterans Affairs, University of California, Irvine and Texas A&M University looked at the effect of various antioxidant or anti-inflammatory interventions – including an antioxidant cocktail, dihydrolipoic acid (antioxidant), ibuprofen (anti-inflammatory), dried plum powder (antioxidant) and a control – on mice that received radiation. Researchers observed that the dried plum powder was the most effective in reducing undesired bone marrow cells' responses to radiation compared with the other interventions.

Additionally, the researchers observed that mice on the dried plum diet did not exhibit decrements (bone volume loss) after exposure to radiation in any of the structural parameters measured. The results of this study suggest that dried plums may serve as an effective intervention for bone loss due to unavoidable exposure to space radiation or radiation therapy.

'Preserving bone strength during space travel is a serious issue faced by astronauts,' says researcher Dr Bernard Halloran, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and Veterans Affairs. 'Radiation-induced bone loss resembles the age-related structural changes of osteoporosis. But health concerns remain with current remedies, such as secondary effects from drug treatments. This preliminary research provides promising hope that something as easy as eating dried plums may be able to counter the negative aspects of space travel on bone health.'

Previous clinical trials also indicate that dried plums may help to preserve bone health. A clinical research study published in the British Journal of Nutrition suggests eating two servings (about 10 to 12 prunes) daily, may improve bone mineral density (BMD) and slow the rate of bone turnover in post-menopausal women.² New research shows eating half that amount daily, just slightly more than one serving, (about 5 to 6 prunes), may also help prevent bone loss in post-menopausal women.³

Additionally, emerging animal research presented as an abstract at the Ninth International Symposium on Nutritional Aspects of Osteoporosis by Halloran suggests that dried plums may help to achieve peak bone mass during growth. Halloran's research found that including dried plums in the diet helped to increase bone volume in young, growing mice and also in young adult and adult mice by as much as 100%.

'These findings are remarkable and add to the growing body of research that dried plums help support healthy bones,' says Halloran. 'We would love to further investigate the effect of dried plums on bone health for those who have been exposed to radiation, since this provides a promising and practical way to counter the detrimental effects of radiation on bone strength. Additional research will also help us to determine more about the specific mechanism that allows dried plums to have a protective effect on our skeleton.'

In addition to bone health benefits, research links dried plums to benefits on digestive and heart health. A clinical trial comparing the effect of dried plums and psyllium on constipation found dried plums to be a more effective treatment for constipation than psyllium.⁴ Additionally, animal research suggests that dried plums may help to slow the development of atherosclerosis.⁵

References

1. http://www.nature.com/srep/ and http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/srep21343.

2. Hooshmand et al. Comparative effects of dried plum and dried apple on bone in postmenopausal women. Br J Nutr. 2011 Sep; 106(6):923-30.

3. Metti et al. Effects of Low Dose of Dried Plum (50 g) on Bone Mineral Density and Bone Biomarkers in Older Postmenopausal Women. April  2015 The FASEB Journal vol. 29 no. 1 Supplement738.12

4. Attaluri et al. Randomized clinical trial: dried plums (prunes) vs. psyllium for constipation. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2011 Apr;33(7):822-8.

5. Gallaher CM, Gallaher DD. Dried plums (prunes) reduce atherosclerosis lesion area in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice. British Journal of Nutrition. 2009;101(2):233–239.