A recent study by Florida State University (FSU) suggests that eating prunes might be more than a healthy snack – it can protect bones in women after the onset of menopause.
Prunes and prune juice have long been seen as an anti constipation remedy. It is also well known that prunes, which are actually dried plums, are full of vitamins and nutrients. But until recently it was not known that a daily serving of prunes could actually lessen and even reverse, in some cases, menopause related bone loss and degeneration.
Its amazing that in just the last few years medical research is now starting to agree with ancient, holistic and traditional medicine techniques. This is no more obvious than in the recent revelation that green tea polyphenols can lessen or even reverse some types of cancer and even radiation and environmental (heavy chemical) poisoning. Green tea has long been used by the Chinese and Japanese and look at the results. They have far fewer cases of stomach and colon cancer than anywhere in the U.S. In Okinawa the average lifespan is much longer than that in America with people regularly reaching over 100 years old. Now another natural food, prunes, has been found to have startling medicinal properties in treating or easing the effects of menopause in women.
Menopause is caused by a gradual change in the female hormone levels and body that develop over several years. Menopause usually occurs in women the 40 to 50 year range and is considered official when the woman has not received a period or menstruation for over 12 months time. After this time numerous side effects begin like hot flashes, hormonal and mood fluctuations, depression, forgetfulness, etc… Some of these effects like bone loss or osteoporosis do start, but very gradually and may take many years before signs and symptoms are apparent or more easily evident. Menopausal derived bone loss can become very pronounced and even debilitating in some cases. But, just like with tooth and gum disease or breast cancer, early prevention is the best medicine. Researchers at FSU have found that a daily dose or serving of prunes lessens the effects of hormonal bone loss due to menopause. In many of these cases they also found that the bone loss was actually reversed.
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The FSU doctors found that within 5 to 7 years after the onset of menopause women can already experience an up to 20% loss of bone mass. Much of the experimentation has been headed by FSU Professor Arimandi. For now the experimentation is still in its early stages and much still needs to be done, but through extensive animal tests and minimal human testing the results are very conclusive that the unique nutrients found in the prune show great promise in alleviating bone loss in post menstrual women.
According to professor Arimandi, “eating the prunes whole seems to be the best way to get the most measurable benefit. For this test we used a daily serving of about 10 whole prunes.” The bone mass was than measured through the latest scanning technology and as it turns out the prunes unique polyphenols may be the smoking gun, “the results were the most consistent I have ever seen,” stated Professor Arimandi.
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As was already said, more research still needs to be done, but the same goes for green tea. The interesting element here is the finding that the wonder nutrient or ingredient is the same, the polyphenols. Many nutritious foods, teas, wines and even herbs contain antioxidants and polyphenols. It is apparent that not all polyphenols react in the same way, but as far as the latest research has shown they apparently all offer tremendous health benefits. Some, like green tea polyphenols have a marked effect on certain cancers, others like prune polyphenols can have a measurable effect on calcium and bone levels. What other wonders lay hidden in various foods, nutrients and herbs just waiting to be discovered? One of the most noted psychics of all time, Edgar Cayce, foretold of a time in the not so far off future when the field of medicine would be of energy and natural treatments. Could polyphenols be a part of this? Only time will tell, but the prognosis and evidence is becoming very strong. It is also interesting to note that these polyphenols, unlike most medicines, have no side effects. Article courtesy of Bestskinpeel.com