Health Articles

California Prunes pack a powerful punch! Learn more about this bone, heart and gut healthy super fruit from leading nutrition professionals.

Exploring the Anti-Inflammatory Benefits of Prunes 

By Melissa Groves Azzaro, RDN, LD 

When you think about anti-inflammatory foods, which foods come to mind? Most people would include foods like salmon, blueberries, walnuts, ginger and turmeric at the top of their lists. But did you know prunes have been shown in studies to lower inflammatory markers? Prunes contain several compounds that are anti-inflammatory and have antioxidant properties, making California Prunes a smart addition when it comes to an overall anti-inflammatory nutrition strategy. 

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Bowl of prunes on cutting board with fresh strawberries and raspberries, spinach and a glass of milk

Are Prunes Good for You?

Prunes are a good-for-you snack that offers a wealth of nutrients and health benefits related to gut health, bone health, heart health and more! Studies have shown that snacking can be an important part of a healthy diet – but it can also lead to health problems depending on how often someone snacks, what they snack on, why, and how it fits into an overall eating pattern.

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Cozy Cold Weather Meals and Snacks Using Prunes

That low-key bag of California Prunes in the pantry is often underestimated as an addition to cold weather meals and snacks. Late fall and winter are perfect times to start bringing them out and showing them off -- because prunes’ sweet, deep flavor and luxurious texture complement many of the season’s cozy flavors and cooking techniques.

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Prunes scattered on a cutting board with bowls of walnuts and seasonings placed off to the side

The Gut Microbiome-Bone Health Connection and a Role for Prunes

Creating a microbiome environment that promotes the growth of “good” microorganisms requires a diet filled with fiber-full vegetables and fruits, such as prunes. Research funded by the California Prune Board (CPB) is exploring the relationship between regular prune consumption and a healthy gut with an additional area of interest: A healthy gut microbiome’s effect on bone density.

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Aging Gracefully with California Prunes

California Prunes Spotlight: Aging Gracefully with California Prunes

California Prunes can help women maintain critical aspects of their physical health as they gracefully age. Eating 50 to 100 grams of prunes every day has been shown to have positive effects on both bone health and heart health in postmenopausal women. For perspective, these amounts equate to about six to twelve prunes.

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Prune Juice: A Nutritional Elixir for Digestive Health

Prune juice has numerous recognized health benefits including positive effects on digestion, bone health, and heart health.

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bowl of prunes. Prune puree is the base for this chocolate truffle recipe

Everything You Need to Know About Dried Prunes

Prunes are simply dried plums, offering essential nutrients, health benefits, and culinary applications. Here’s everything you need to know about prunes.

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Prunes Can Support Your Core Nutrition Goals

How California Prunes Can Support Your Core Nutrition Goals

By Leslie Bonci, MPH, RDN, CSSD, LDN
Smart athletes include foods that benefit their heart, and certainly decreasing the risk of injury by optimizing bone health is a goal for all active people. So, what do California Prunes bring to the plate, bowl or glass?

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Adding Prune Juice & Smoothie ingredients to a blender for athletic performance

California Prunes: Good For Your Body, Bones & Athletic Performance!

By Cara Harbstreet, MS, RD, LD
Fresh fruit, dried fruit, frozen fruit…so much fruit to choose from and still so much confusion over what’s best for health. In this post, I’ll tackle what I think is one of the most underrated options: California Prunes!

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Singing the Prune Tune Over the Holidays

By Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, CSSD, LDN
The holiday season is a time for festivities, but it can also be a frenzy. We’re often on-the-go, pushing our boundaries, and neglecting our own wellness. Before this season ramps up and we get wrapped up in all the excitement of giving to others, let’s be sure we gift ourselves moments of self-care every day.

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Get in the Zone to Protect Bones at Every Life Stage

By Leslie Bonci, MPH, RDN, CSSD, LDN
Here are some friendly tips to incorporate California Prunes from the early years through adulthood, based on the four major principles of the recently released 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

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4 Surprising Facts About California Prunes

By Chris Mohr, PhD, RD
If prunes aren’t on your grocery shopping list yet, they will be once you learn about all the goodness of California Prunes. While some may think that prunes only help with ‘regularity,’ they are so much more! Here are 4 surprising facts about prunes, besides helping your digestion.

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Protecting Your Heart with California Prunes

By Jim White, RDN
What do you think of when you think about California Prunes? Most immediately, people tend to think of their wonderful effects on digestion and gut health. While that is true, California Prunes are also incredibly cardioprotective.

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healthier baking with prunes

Your Guide to Healthier Baking | Tips & Tricks

Your Guide to Healthier Baking with California Prunes and Prune Purée is here! Reduce refined sugar, fat, and eggs while adding nutrition!

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bahn mi sandwich ingredient spread

How do Antioxidants Impact Inflammation?

By Leslie Bonci, MPH, RDN, CSSD, LDN
When it comes to overall health and wellness, free radicals, antioxidants, and inflammation are important factors worth addressing.

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Bone Building Power of Prunes

The Prebiotic Bone Building Power of California Prunes

By Andrea N. Giancoli, MPH, RD
This may be one of those “no duh” moments when scientific research is released and seems to point out the obvious. Right now, you may be thinking “of course prunes are prebiotic – they are the original good gut food after all.” Now, there is empirical evidence to support defining prunes as a prebiotic food and why.

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prunes for gut health

Prunes Found to Modify the Gut Microbiome in Postmenopausal Women

By Andrea N. Giancoli, MPH, RD
There seems to be headlines weekly, sometimes even daily, about new research regarding the gut microbiome, gut microbiota and the connection to a variety of health outcomes. A recently published study that reports prunes appear to favorably impact the gut microbiome.

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healthy self with prunes

Building a Healthy Self With Prunes From Your Shelf

By Leslie Bonci, MPH, RDN, CSSD, LDN
Building a healthy self is simple with prunes on your shelf! Leslie Bonci, MS, RD, CSSD and Sports Dietitian for Super Bowl Champions the Kansas City Chiefs, shares how.

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two hands holding a small bowl of prunes

10 Ways to Have a Happy You Year!

There is something to be said for controlling what we can with our self-health plan. Can we resolve to strategize our behaviors to be purposeful, present, and positive? Here are 10 ways to help you do just that.

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Chocolate Fudge Raw Bar slices on parchment paper with cashews

The Prune Study: Prune Positive Outcomes Keep on Coming

In our April 2022 newsletter, we reported early findings from the largest prune consumption trial to date, which studied a cohort of more than 200 postmenopausal women. Since that time, the full paper Prunes preserve hip bone mineral density in a 12-month randomized controlled trial in postmenopausal women: the Prune Study[i] was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Dr. De Souza and her team of collaborators have been communicating additional significant outcomes at several scientific meetings and conferences.

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How Many California Prunes Should I Eat?

Four to five prunes – an amount that is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand – make up one full serving of fruit. Just a handful of prunes are packed with an abundance of nutrients that support your many body systems, all for less than 100 calories.

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prunes in a tree representing preserving the environment

Supporting Your Structure

As a sports dietitian who works with both male and female active individuals and professional athletes, I am an advocate for food choices and eating patterns that support bone health. Too often, I have clients who are diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis or who have experienced stress fractures or stress reactions. Therefore, it is important to be preventative, impactful, and proactive with food choices and eating behaviors that are constructive – not destructive – to bones.

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bourbon-soaked prune garnish w/ citrus twist

Defining Bone Health and the Effects of Prune Consumption

Bone health doesn’t always rank high under top health concerns for Americans even though we all start gradually losing bone once peak bone mass is reached somewhere around 30 years of age.

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