Time to call for backup.
There are few sensations as uncomfortable as being blocked up, feeling like there’s a bowling ball in your belly — taking several hopeful trips to the bathroom only to come up empty.
Luckily, you don’t necessarily need medication to get relief from constipation — since just a few of these pantry staples will do the trick.
Research recently presented at the Digestive Disease Week conference suggests grandma really did know best: prunes, raisins and dried apricots will get things moving.
The study put 150 participants with chronic constipation into one of three groups: one that consumed three ounces of the dried fruits daily, one that drank the juice of said fruits and one that took a sugar water placebo for a month.
Because they are committed to science, the researchers took rigorous notes on any changes in poop at the end of every seven-day dump.
While the juice helped, the most marked improvements in bowel movements — and mood — came from the fruit group.
Stool weight — which is a good marker of how everything is operating down there — jumped by 21 grams per day in the dried fruit-eating group, compared to a paltry 1.6 grams with the placebo cohort.
And the lucky ducks in the groups that consumed the fruit in both its dry and juiced form had 1.3 times as many spontaneous bathroom breaks per week than the suckers stuck with the placebo.
“People who ate dried fruit had more complete bowel movements than those taking the placebo and the weight of their stools increased significantly,” Dr. Simon Steenson, Postdoctoral Research Associate
in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King’s College London, told MedicalResearch.com.
“They also reported a higher level of treatment satisfaction, without any significant side effects.”
Steenson noted that while “chronic constipation is something that can be embarrassing…it affects one in 10 people globally,” which is nothing to fart at.
He also pointed out that 80% of the US population doesn’t meet the recommendation guidelines for dried fruit, which is the three ounces used in the study or half a cup.
The magic of raisins, dried apricots and prunes lies in their high content of fiber — which aids digestion — and sorbitol, which pulls water into the intestines, making stools softer and easier to pass.
Just make sure not to have too much, otherwise it might literally backfire.
And if you’re concerned about the sugar content of these fruits, Steenson believes there are bigger baddies out there.
“It’s true that dried fruit does contain quite a lot of sugar, but this is contained within the cells of the fruit and so it takes time for our bodies to break down and release this sugar,” he told the outlet.
“So, it is less of a concern than the sugar in sodas and is unlikely to be an issue for our calorie intake or blood glucose.”
It’s worth noting that this study has not yet been peer-reviewed and was funded by the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council (INC).
However, it is also the largest clinical trial to date to see if these foods could relieve constipation — and, anyway, the evidence speaks for itself.
Finally, in addition to giving your bowels their freedom back, you can keep raisins, prunes and dried apricots in the pantry for quite some time — because they will outlive you and everything you love.
Read the full article here
