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When it comes to meeting your daily fruit needs, it's always better to eat your fruit than drink it. However, organic prune juice offers a number health benefits. Using prunes grown under conditions to promote ecological balance and biodiversity, organic prune juice is not only good for the environment, but good for you, too. Prune juice helps you meet your daily fiber, potassium, calcium and iron needs.
Nonfilling Calories
An 8-ounce serving of organic prune juice contains 170 calories. Juice cannot help control your appetite as well as whole fruit, according to a study published in the journal "Appetite" in 2009, and is less filling, which might cause you to consume more calories than you intended. While organic prune juice is a healthy part of any diet, if you drink it in excess it can lead to weight gain. When including organic prune juice in your diet, be mindful of portion size and your overall calorie intake for better weight management.
High-Fiber Juice
One reason the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 recommend you eat your fruit instead of drinking it is that most juices lack fiber. However, prune juice is a good source of fiber. An 8-ounce serving of organic prune juice contains 46 grams of total carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber. Getting more fiber in your diet helps lower your blood cholesterol levels and alleviate constipation. Women need 21 to 25 grams of fiber a day, and men 30 to 38 grams.
Fat-Free, Low In Protein
It may not come as much of a surprise that organic prune juice is fat-free, but you may not know that it does contain a small amount of protein. An 8-ounce serving of the juice contains 1 gram of protein. However, because the protein is plant-based, it does not contain all of the essential amino acids your body needs and is therefore considered an incomplete source of protein. But you don't need to worry; most Americans more than adequately meet their daily proteins needs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some Sodium
Getting too much sodium in your diet increases your risk of developing high blood pressure. Some foods, like organic prune juice, are a natural source of sodium. However, the amount of sodium in the juice is very small, with just 20 milligrams per 8-ounce serving. In general, you should limit your intake of sodium to less than 2,300 milligrams a day. If you have high blood pressure, are of African American descent or over the age of 51, you should limit your intake even further, to less than 1,500 milligrams a day.
Rich in Minerals
Organic prune juice is also a natural source of calcium and iron. An 8-ounce serving meets 2 percent of the daily value for calcium and 6 percent of the daily value for iron. Calcium is a nutrient of concern because some groups of people, including children and women, do not get enough in their diet. Adequate intake of calcium is necessary to help support bone health and strength. Young girls and women are also at risk of not getting enough iron in their diet. You need adequate intake of iron so that your body can deliver oxygen to your muscles and organs.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010
- USDA Agricultural Marketing Service: National Organic Program
- R.W. Knudsen Family: Organic Prune Juice
- Appetite: The Effect of Fruit in Different Forms on Energy Intake and Satiety At a Meal
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: What Is Fiber?
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Protein
- MedlinePlus: Sodium in Diet
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Iron and Iron Deficiency
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