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Beneficial Qualities Of Prune Juice And Good Health
Most of us who have investigated treatments for constipation will have come across the prune. These dried fruits are regarded as generally beneficial for relieving constipation, largely due to the large amount of fiber. But what many don’t know about is that the juice from prunes is also an excellent type of treatment.
The prune is simply a dried plum known by the scientific name of Prunus domestica. Archaeological evidence suggests that man has been cultivating plums and drying them for hundreds if not thousands of years. The method of processing is quite simple: 18 hours of hot air dehydration, typically at 90 degrees Celsius. After dehydration, the material can be further processed into other products like prune juice.
It’s understood that high fiber helps give prunes its laxative properties for treating constipation. The average amount of fiber in a prune is almost 6% by weight. But there is little or no fiber in prune juice so how can the juice form be of benefit? It turns out that the other major component in prunes which gives it anti-constipation properties is the sugar sorbitol.
Prune juice has very high levels of this mysterious sugar substitute called sorbitol. Unlike glucose, sorbitol is a long polysaccharide chain that is no easy to digest by the human stomach. As such, it resides in the intestinal space and absorbs a lot of water. Sorbitol’s non-digestible property means that it’s also often used as a sugar substitute in foods.
Pears and sugar free gum are two other things with sorbitol. Of course, the pear has a higher amount and is presumably a good aid for digestion as well. One interesting fact is that dietary fiber has molecular properties that are very similar to sugar and sorbitol. It’s no coincidence that all of these laxatives have similar molecular characteristics.
Why does sorbitol act like a natural laxative? There are two properties already mentioned which are responsible: first, it passes through the body without being absorbed, much as dietary fiber; second, it retains a large amount of water as it goes through the gut. Either water that is taken in at the same time is retained in the gastrointestinal tract, or water is drawn from the surrounding tissues into the gastrointestinal tract.
The increased water content means that the colonic contents become softer and bulkier. A number of other constipation treatments have similar effects, two classes of which are known by their names osmotic and bulk laxatives. The benefits of prune juice are not restricted to helping stomach contents move faster, but also include important vitamins and sugars for energy. For a simple, natural food, it seems that prunes have many benefits.
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