Tart, low in calories, and it becomes a completely different food dried.
Plums are low in calories and sugar for a stone fruit, with anthocyanins concentrated in
the dark skin.
Dried, they become prunes — and the transformation is dramatic.
Drying removes the water and concentrates the sugar, the fibre and the sorbitol, which is what
makes prunes work so reliably for constipation while fresh plums are only mildly
effective.
Both are the same fruit. The dose is what changes.
Per 100g fresh. Prunes are roughly 240 kcal and 7g fibre per 100g.
Based on the nutrients and fibre this food supplies. These are supporting foods, not treatments.
Ripe plums give slightly and smell sweet. A dusty bloom on the skin is
natural and a good sign, not dirt.
Eat the skin — that is where
the anthocyanins are.
Count prunes carefully. Five prunes carry the
sugar of about five plums in a couple of mouthfuls.
Roast them with
cinnamon — heat concentrates the flavour and softens the tartness.
The prune effect on constipation is one of the better-supported food interventions there
is. Trials have found dried plums outperform psyllium for mild constipation.
Two things
do the work: sorbitol, which draws water into the bowel osmotically, and a high fibre content
concentrated by drying. Prunes are also high in vitamin K and have been studied for bone
density, with reasonable early results.
Diabetes: whole fruit over juice, portion aware, and better eaten
with protein or fat than alone.
IBS: several fruits are high-FODMAP
and commonly trigger symptoms — tolerance is personal.
Kidney
disease: potassium may need limiting. Ask your doctor for your numbers.
This is information, not a prescription. If you are managing a diagnosed condition or taking medication, talk to your doctor before making a large change to your diet.
Nutrition figures on this page come from standard food composition data. These links let you check the numbers and read the underlying research yourself rather than taking our word for it.