Studies conducted at Penn State University in Pennsylvania, United States, found that eating prunes may help prevent osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

According to the “Eurek Alert” website, 235 postmenopausal women participated in the study, and the results were presented at the annual meeting of the Menopause Society held in Atlanta.

In the first study, the scientists examined the relationship between inflammatory factors and various measures of bone health. Dr. Connie Rogers said evidence from a number of previous studies points to a link between chronic inflammation, osteoporosis and fracture risk. Looking at postmenopausal women, Rogers said: “We started our study by investigating the relationship between biomarkers of inflammation and bone, And it helped us establish a reference line before we looked into the matter with the prunes.”

The results indicate that higher levels of inflammatory markers were associated with less trabecular bone in the lumbar spine among study participants. The conclusion: the higher the inflammation, the weaker the bone health.

“Our findings show that inflammatory markers are associated with bone health in postmenopausal women, suggesting that inflammation may be an important mediator of postmenopausal bone loss, and a potential target for nutritional therapies,” Rogers said.

The second study was conducted on the same women who participated in the first study, and lasted about a year.

The treatment groups were divided into two: a group ate 50 grams of prunes (5-6 prunes per day) and another group ate 100 grams (10-12 prunes per day).

Researcher Dr. Marie-Jean de Souza discovered according to her latest findings that consuming plums preserves mineral density and bone strength. The conclusion: you should eat between six and twelve plums daily. “It seems that plums may help prevent bone loss, especially in the hip and leg” , she said.

Osteoporosis is a disease that damages the bone and leads to its weakening, making it more brittle and sensitive. It is a disease that affects men and women, and leads to fractures in the wrist, hip, vertebrae and other places. It is not contagious, but certain factors play a role in its transmission.

According to the US National Library of Medicine, half of women over the age of 50 and a quarter of men over the age of 50 will suffer from an osteoporotic crisis.

Bone is a living tissue that undergoes a continuous process of destruction and reconstruction, as old bone tissue is destroyed and replaced by new bone tissue. The shape of the bone under the microscope resembles the honeycomb cells made by bees. In osteoporosis, the process of destruction overwhelms the process of construction, leading to a decrease in bone density and strength.

The risk factors: aging, thin or weak body structure, family history, taking certain medications such as steroids, eating an unhealthy diet that does not provide a sufficient amount of calcium, vitamin D deficiency, lack of physical activity, smoking.

Symptoms of osteoporosis: Usually, a person with osteoporosis does not feel any symptoms until a fracture occurs, which is usually in the vertebrae of the spine, wrist or hip.

The first symptom that appears on a person may be a decrease in height, which occurs as a result of a fracture in one or more vertebrae in the spine, and this fracture results in a decrease in height of up to 2.5 centimeters or more. If a person has more than one fracture in more than one vertebra, symptoms may include curvature and back pain, as well as fatigue.