hooray for prunes!

For 15 years, Dr. Bahram Arjmandi has studied how our bodies react to certain foods. His latest study followed Jeffery and more than 100 other women to see if bone density could be improved just by adding dried plums or prunes to their diet.

"I have never seen anything this consistent that not only prevents bone loss but increases bone mass," says Bahram H. Arjmandi, Ph.D., R.D., Professor/Chair of the Department of Nutrition, Food and Sciences at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

Dr. Arjmandi's several successful animal and human studies document that special phenolic compounds in dried plums up-regulate growth factors linked to bone formation (such as IGF-1) and counter the activity of factors that inhibit bone formation (such as TNF-alpha). It probably also helps that prunes are one of the foods highest in antioxidants and also contain generous amounts of various key bone nutrients including potassium, boron, and copper. While Dr. Arjmandi has found other natural substances capable of halting bone loss, prunes were the only food found to actually restore lost bone.

This summer Dr. Arjmandi and colleagues will complete a landmark, controlled human clinical trial on prunes and bone health. For this study, 120 post-menopausal women have been taking either 100 grams of prunes (9-10 a day) or an equivalent portion of dried apples for one year. While it will be a few more months before all the research data is in, thus far 30 women in the prune group have had at least a 6% increase in hip bone, and one woman had an exceptional 11% increase consuming prunes over the year. Preliminary data from a segment of research subjects found that all prune-eaters showed at least some improvement in bone mass by six months into the study.

Interesting, no?  Ladies - rev your engines!  Eat them prunes!

If you are inclined to join us, take Dr. Arjmandi's advice and start slowly with a few prunes a day, working up to the full 9-10 over time. I have found soaked or stewed prunes are easier to digest, and Dr. Arjmandi has found that prunes do not lead to either weight gain or increased blood sugar levels. Also they should help build new bone in men as well as women.

We read in Joshua 4 this morning, where the children of Israel crossed over Jordan.  A lot was mentioned about the 12 stones, and about telling your children what they meant.  I remember hearing how my parents (grandparent... great-grandparent...) heard the gospel - when I was young it was just like a story mom and dad told us.  An exciting one, too - I had the names of the two workers who came to my great-grandma memorized, I remember.  Still do, for that matter.

It's sunny today - at the moment.  Ha.  I hope it stays that way!  

donedonedonedonedone

Hooray!  I'm done!

I don't feel like writing anything, so I am putting up pictures instead. Enjoy!

Photo A:  Gopher whistling.

Photo B:  Yesterday in Conrad. Like the combo of dandelions and 5 ft drifts?

Photo C:  Norm and Joyce Benjamin's - out the front door Wednesday morning.

Photo D:  West Butte a few weeks ago, taken from the Gold Butte cemetary.

Photo E:  Yesterday in Great Falls.

Photo F:  Pelicans; yesterday in Conrad.  Did you know that pelicans fly in spirals?  I don't know if they always do this, but these were spiraling.  Not up like hawks do, but laterally.  One huge circle that overlapped the next huge circle that overlapped the next, and so on.  So that very slowly, they were moving north, though at approximately the same altitude.