A prune is a dried plum. Most of the prunes consumed in the United States are prepared from a variety of plum called La Petite d'Agen, a tree native to southwest France. When it is harvested, this plum has a royal purple outer skin and amber colored flesh. When it is dried, the plum becomes purple, shriveled, and concentrated in both fiber and sugar.
Recent research suggests, surprisingly, that the fiber found in fresh and dried pitted prunes may help prevent breast cancer. In women who have not reached menopause, eating 100 g (about 3 1/2 ounces) of dried prunes every day shifts hormonal balance away from an active form of estrogen, 16 -hydroxyestrone (16 OHE1, to an inactive form of estrogen, especially during the first half of the menstrual cycle.
For the same reason, prunes help prevent acne in women of reproductive age. Among premenopausal women who eat prunes, acne outbreaks should improve every month, most noticeably during the first two weeks after menstruation, although during the first month women eat prunes acne should get a little better every day.
The most familiar use of prunes, of course, is for promoting regularity. Because it is so hard to imagine how hundreds of millions people in almost every country in the world who eat prunes for regularity could be wrong, no scientist has done even one scientific study to prove their usefulness in treating constipation.
Scientists speculate that prunes stimulate bowel movements through a mechanism similar to milk of magnesia: their high content of the sugar sorbitol draws fluid into the colon and makes the stool softer and more watery. Prunes have other scientifically demonstrated nutritional value: they are a rich source of potassium, which is beneficial to cardiovascular health, and an important source of boron, which plays a role in the prevention of osteoporosis. And no one can argue that they do not relieve constipation.
Prunes aren't just for health, however, they are also for flavor. Here are some new and tasty prune recipes for people who eat them regularly, including a way to "sneak" prunes into kids' meals.
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