by Latoya Wills

Created on: May 12, 2008   Last Updated: June 16, 2008

Prunes, yuk right? Even as a small child I thought my grandparents were weird and prunes just solidified the fact that they were old. In fact prunes have taken on a bad rap for being just associated with the elderly. I use to think that it was some natural instinct to eat them when you got older like wearing pants up to your belly button, driving like a tortoise, or using words like sonny and wiper snapper.

In truth, prunes have a long history with lots of benefits to the young and old alike. Prunes are produced from dried plums. This process was thought to have been discovered thousands of years ago around the Caspian Sea. In the mid-19th century the process made it to California, which is now the leading producer of prunes.

Plums can help fight the battle of the bulge. Everyone these days is looking for something to help lose weight. Plums could lend a hand in the fight because prunes promote a feeling full after a meal. Prunes help slow the rate of food leaving the stomach, and can therefore prevent overeating. There are many other benefits as well. There was a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2003 that has proven that the high fiber in prunes helps prevent heart disease. The study was conducted for 19 years with almost 10,000 American adults. Prunes also have high levels of beta- carotene and antioxidants.
Antioxidants, which has been all over television in recent years is like our internal sunscreen if you will. Antioxidants are in a nutshell molecules that help slow down oxidation. Oxidation causes damage to our cells, therefore when we consume foods that contain antioxidants; we are helping to prevent the oxidation damage to our cells like the way sunscreen prevents skin damage from the sun.

Prunes may also be able reverse bone loss in postmenopausal women. Professor Bahram Arjmandi at Florida State University is an expert on "functional foods" and how they affect chronic diseases. Professor Arjmandi is set to do a yearlong study on the effect of prunes on osteoporosis. In 2004 his study at Oklahoma State University, professor Arjmandi found that prunes did produce a restoration in bone mass for female rats. This is important because with the cost of osteoporosis medicine rising, the women in our lives need a way to get the help they need for this depilating disease at an affordable price.

Prunes haven't been given their due respect, but they are helpful, affordable, and are for all ages. So next time you pass some prunes in the grocery store, don't give them that disgusted look. Pick one up, caress its lovely wrinkled and dried skin; the American public for a longtime has hurt its feelings. Appreciate prunes for their inner beauty and before long we might be able to forge as strong a bond as we have with the apple mmmm perhaps.

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