Dried plums and Cancer-Fighting Power

Your grandmother was right about this old folk remedy

Familiar Folk Remedy Gets a New Name,
Keeps Its Cancer-Fighting Power

There’s a “new” cancer-fighting fruit in town — but when you bite into one, you may notice it looks and tastes the same as a dried fruit you’ve known about for years … one commonly believed to keep people “regular.”

Enthusiasts have given this old folk remedy a new name, but that doesn’t change its great taste or nutritional power.

Plus, scientists are discovering this sweet dried fruit is also a portable cancer fighter, thanks to being chock-full of antioxidants, vitamins, and gut-healthy prebiotics.

If you don’t know about it already, it’s about time you did!

Newsletter #585
Lee Euler, Editor

Did you guess I’m talking about dried plums? You might be more familiar with them as prunes – the fruit your grandmother probably used to stimulate regular bowel movements.

Why the new name? I have to say, it’s pretty obvious. Plums sound a lot more delectable than prunes. And just plain nicer. Who wants to eat a laxative?

But there is a story behind this. . .

A few years ago, the California Dried Plum Board conducted a survey and found that people (especially women ages 25 to 54) responded more favorably to the name “dried plums,” so they changed the name.¹ Outside the United States the name “prune” is still used.

No matter what name you choose to call them, these sweet, sticky treats are still great for your blood sugar, digestive tract, and waistline.

Perhaps best of all, they’ve been shown to reduce the risk of developing colon cancer.

Waste elimination is essential to cancer prevention

Keeping your digestive tract cleansed and moving along smoothly is important to your overall health. If old food and bacteria aren’t flushed out of your system regularly they create an environment where cancer cells thrive.

Dried plums have long been the “go-to” fruit for relieving constipation and keeping the digestive tract regular. The reason for this is twofold:

1. Dried plums are very high in fiber
2. Dried plums are high in sorbitol, a natural sugar alcohol that acts as a laxative

Just a half-cup serving of dried plums contains a little more than six grams of fiber and 12 grams of sorbitol.

Prune juice has about 15 grams of sorbitol per 8-ounce glass, which is why a glass or two of the juice is more often recommended to ease colon blockage than a handful of the dried fruit. It’s far gentler than over-the-counter medications, but still effective.

Dried plums boost your gut bacteria

Dried plums help keep your colon healthy in more ways than one. Besides supporting the muscle movement that brings on elimination, dried plums have also been clinically shown to improve the amount of healthy bacteria – called flora — in the gut.

A healthy balance of gut flora is so important that researchers found they could predict a person’s risk of colon cancer just by looking at the microbiome – the full collection of microbes in the colon.²

If you recall, I discussed the importance of keeping a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut in issue #539, and how eating prebiotic and probiotic foods work to keep the good bacteria alive and thriving.

Sorbitol in dried plums is another excellent prebiotic, meaning it provides food for the healthy bacteria in your gut.

In a study performed at Texas A&M University, researchers fed a group of rats a high-prune diet and discovered the animals had more beneficial bacteria in the distal colon (last part of the colon) than the control group that didn’t eat prunes.

Researchers also discovered these rats had significantly fewer aberrant crypts. These are precancerous lesions that can be an early indicator of colon cancer.³

This wasn’t the only research to discover a link between high consumption of dried plums and reduced colon cancer risk.

Researchers published the results of a study in the journal Nutrition and Cancer that showed rats eating a diet high in dried plum powder had lower amounts of unhealthy bacteria as well as an increased oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), meaning these rats had a greater ability to neutralize free radicals and stop oxidation in cells.⁴

Dried plums are full of phytonutrients

Dried plums are rich in other phytonutrients that not only reduce colon cancer risk specifically, but boost cell health and reduce your overall cancer risk.

• Antioxidants that neutralize free radicals and restore cell health
• Vitamin A, an antioxidant that helps vision and immune system health
• Vitamin K1 helps in blood clotting
• Boron staves off osteoporosis. One serving provided the RDA.
• Copper reduces inflammation throughout the body
• Potassium (745 mg per serving) keeps your heart healthy⁵

Dried plums are also rich in phenolic compounds such as neochlorogenic and chlorogenic acids, which have been shown to destroy breast cancer cell lines.⁶ A half-cup serving of dried plums contains 184 grams of these cancer-killing compounds.

And even though dried plums are sweet enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, eating them – so I’m told — doesn’t spike the blood sugar levels like refined sugar, possibly due to the combination of fructose, fiber and sorbitol.

The same phenolic compounds that kill cancer cells also help delay glucose absorption, making dried plums a healthy snack for just about anyone.

Reap the benefits of dried plums

Incorporating dried plums into your diet is easy, and safe for nearly everyone. However, if you’re diabetic or have had other insulin problems, talk to your doctor about how the fructose in dried plums may affect your blood sugar.

What does this mean for your health? Researchers for Consumer Reports reviewed the arsenic levels of more than 3,600 people who were taking part in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to see if rice consumption was linked to higher arsenic levels in the body. NHANES consists of data compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics. It includes findings based on physical examinations, personal interviews, blood samples and urine tests.

A serving of dried plums is only a half cup, or about 10 of these tasty fruit nuggets. Mix them with raw nuts for a snack, add a few to a smoothie for sweetness and fiber, or drink prune juice instead of other super-sugary fruit juices with breakfast.

Just be aware that if you choose juice you don’t get the benefits of fiber, so make sure you’re boosting fiber intake elsewhere. I also suspect that fiber-free prune juice will boost blood sugar levels in an unhealthy way, compared to the fiber-rich whole dried plum.

Another bonus of dried plums is that they aren’t full of the usual preservatives and sulfating agents one has to be aware of when eating dried fruits.

According to the California Dried Plum Board, only potassium sorbate, a naturally occurring preservative compound, is used. And because dried plums are already dark in color, they don’t have sulfating agents, which are used to prevent darkening.⁷

So go forth, boost your health, reduce colon cancer risks and maintain a healthy balance of gut bacteria by adding prunes, dried plums — or whatever you want to call them — into your diet. Who knew this little sweet fruit could pack such a nutritional punch?

References:

¹ Why was the name prunes changed to dried plums?
² The human gut microbiome as a screening tool for colorectal cancer. 
³Dried plums modify colon microbiota composition and spatial distribution, and protect against chemically-induced carcinogenesis.
⁴ Effect of dried plums on colon cancer risk factors in rats. 
⁵ Dried plums and their products: composition and health effects–an updated review.
⁶ Identifying peach and plum polyphenols with chemopreventive potential against estrogen-independent breast cancer cells.
⁷ Are preservatives used in processing dried plums/prunes?

http://www.cancerdefeated.com/this-ancient-form-of-wealth-kills-cancer-cells/3498/

Dried plums could reduce the risk of colon cancer

A DIET rich in dried plums could reduce the risk of colon cancer according to a recent American study presented in Boston during the 2015 Experimental Biology conference. The fruit promotes the retention of beneficial bacteria for the colon.

30 September 2015 

Dried plums could help reduce the risk of colon cancer. AFP RELAXNEWS

Researchers from the Texas A&M University and the University of North Carolina based their study on pre-existing research that demonstrated how one's diet can modify the metabolism and the microbiota composition of the colon (the bacteria present throughout the colon and digestive tract).

According to Dr. Nancy Turner, among the trillions of gastro-intestinal bacteria present in the digestive tract, over 400 individual species have already been identified.

Previous studies have shown that disruptions to the microbiota are involved in the beginnings of intestinal inflammation as well as recurring inflammatory bouts that can lead to the development of colon cancer.

"Our research explored the potential cancer-protective properties of dried plums using a well-established rat model of colon cancer," explains Dr. Turner. "Dried plums contain phenolic compounds, which have multiple effects on our health, including their ability to serve as antioxidants...."

The experiment tested the hypothesis that the consumption of dried plums would promote retention of beneficial microbiota and patterns of microbial metabolism throughout the colon. In order to do so, the researchers fed the rats either a diet that included dried plums or a control diet. After having examined the intestinal contents and different segments of colon tissue, the researchers found that a diet of dried plums had increased the quantity of Bacteroidetes and reduced the amount of Firmicutes, two major kinds of intestinal bacteria found in the distal colon, without modifying the amounts found in the proximal colon.

On the contrary, the rats that were fed the control diet had a weaker amount of Bacteroidetes and a higher amount of Firmicutes.

In addition, the researchers noted that the rats that had consumed dried plums also presented significantly reduced numbers of aberrant crypts, generally observed in precancerous lesions.

For the research team, the reduction in aberrant crypts associated with an inverse ratio of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes support the hypothesis that dried plums appear to reduce the risk of colon cancer.

The phenomenon could be explained in part by their ability "to establish seemingly beneficial colon microbiota compositions in the distal colon" concluded Dr. Turner.

Both plums and prunes are considered anti-cancer foods thanks to their antioxidant properties. –AFP Relaxnews

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1567303

This post is on Healthwise

Umeboshi Plum for Gallbladder Health

Fact or Myth: Can Umeboshi Reverse a Gallbladder Attack?

Danica Collins

This is a FACT.

The digestive health benefit of umeboshi – pickled plums – has been used in Asian culture for hundreds of years.

The ume plum is closely related to the apricot and is part of the Prunus mume family. Though there is only one species of ume there are over 300 varieties.

When compared to standard plums, umes tend to be smaller and not as sweet. Ume plums are sometimes used to make wine or vinegar. Usually they are pickled, then dried and cured for several months. The finished product resembles a skinny prune. The sea salt used in their creation may not make them a good choice for those on a low-sodium diet.

Umeboshi is made from pickling the plum (ume) with sea salt (bo) to leave (shi).

They are a low calorie food with trace amounts of potassium, iron, fat, fiber, protein and vitamin C. In the eight-century, Samurai warriors used umes to combat battle fatigue and purify food and water.

Umeboshi is still a staple food in many Japanese households. It is typically eaten at breakfast along with several cups of green tea.

The alkaline fruit has been shown to help balance the acid in your body – acid imbalance is a common problem among vegetarians who consume high levels of grains and nuts.

Restoring the acid-alkaline balance is easily accomplished by adding very small quantities of umeboshi to the macrobiotic diet. Umeboshi plum benefits have a multitude of health benefits, including acting as a proven detoxifier and digestive tonic for many conditions.


Umeboshi Helps Ease…

• Gallbladder attacks resulting from food intolerance
• Stomach upset, as well as morning sickness and motion sickness
• Hangover by more efficiently metabolizing alcohol
• Food poisoning, diarrhea and constipation
• Fatigue by fighting the effects of acid produced during physical activity
• Bowel discomfort caused by intestinal worms, fungi and bad gut bacteria
• Food intolerance, which often leads to other digestive conditions

When your body has difficulty digesting food, microscopic food particles become stuck in your gastrointestinal tract. These food particles can result in gallstones, irritable bowel conditions and general sluggishness.

Umeboshi eaten regularly helps to flush these particles from your system. This prevents gallbladder flare-ups. It also prevents gallstones from forming. Gallstones create blockages and cause intense pain and inflammation.

Doctors are often quick to remove the gallbladder. It is the organ responsible for bile storage which takes excess stress off the liver. Without it, overall fat metabolism and the distribution of nutrients throughout the body is affected and the liver is forced to work harder to compensate. Umeboshi plum benefits help detoxify your gallbladder and keep it at peak health. All surgery involves risk! Avoiding preventable operations is just good sense.

Natural Umeboshi Plum Benefits

• Antioxidant – fights the negative effects of oxidation
• Antibiotic – inhibits the growth of bacteria
• Antiseptic – prevents infection
• Anti-diarrheal – prevents and/or stops all forms of diarrhea
• Anthelmintic – expels intestinal worms
• Anti-typhoid – fights fever

New York University discovered in 1890 that the citric and malic acids found in umeboshi were effective in the prevention of tuberculosis – a bacterial infection that starts in the lungs and can quickly spread throughout the body.

Dried plum extract has even higher concentrations of antioxidants and is often used as a tonic with honey and tea. The cooked down extract has a citric acid content that is approximately 25 times greater than that of lemon juice, but without the salt content found in the pickled variety.

Umeboshi can be added to many dishes or used as a dressing over cooked foods. The sweet and sour flavor especially compliments beef and chicken. It can also be used as a garnish to prevent spoilage during the summer months or as a dressing over salad. Mix it with sake (rice wine) and a small amount of soy sauce for a unique flavor, and to balance good intestinal bacteria.

The versatile health benefits of umeboshi plum benefits are well-documented in the world of holistic and alternative medicine and traditional science is beginning to take notice.

Source: Fact or Myth: Can Umeboshi Reverse a Gallbladder Attack?