The California Prune Board is heralding a specialist educational event - which provided nutritionists and dietitians with an authoritative insight into the proven health and nutritional credentials of prunes - a success. With the IOF’s (International Osteoporosis Foundation) annual World Osteoporosis Day 2015 approaching (20th October 2015) and focusing on ‘Serve up bone health’ i.e. the importance of adopting a bone-healthy diet from early life through to old age, the inaugural Prune Health Matters seminar provided an excellent opportunity to discuss the beneficial effect prunes have over other dried fruits to protect against (and in some cases revert) the breakdown of bones. The cost of osteoporosis in the UK is projected to be £5,465 million by 2025 (representing a 24% increase over the cost of £3,496 million in 2010) and currently one in two women in the UK and at least one in five men will break a bone after the age of 50 due to osteoporosis.
The seminar, held at King’s College, London afforded an opportunity to discuss the latest research findings underpinning the health benefits of prunes and included presentations from a number of authoritative speakers including the renowned ‘bone health’ specialist Dr Bahram Arjmandi (Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences, Florida State University), who spoke about the scientific evidence that supports the relationship between prunes and bone health.
Dr Margaret Ashwell, OBE, FAfN, RNutr chaired the Prune Health Matters seminar, which also featured additional speakers Jennette Higgs, BSc Nutrition, RD (Consultant to California Prune Board) who delivered a presentation looking at the myths and meaning in relation to ‘good sugar foods’ v ‘bad sugar foods’ and Dr Michele Sadler BSc, PhD RNutr who presented recent desk top research findings outlining the current understanding of the relationship between prunes and dental health.
A healthy Question Time style debate followed the presentations, when the audience was encouraged to put forward their questions to the expert panel, which included dental health specialist, Professor Paula Moynihan, PhD Nutrition, RD, RNutr (Professor of Nutrition and Oral Health, Newcastle University).
Commenting on the event, Mark Dorman from California Prune Board said, “As category leader with the credibility and knowledge to educate, California Prunes has always led the industry in terms of investing in highly credible, world class, cutting edge nutritional research to support the beneficial nutritional and health benefits of incorporating California prunes in the diet. We wanted to share our latest findings with this influential group of opinion formers, which reveal the positive impact eating prunes can have on bone health. The studies – along with a growing body of additional research - support the US National Osteoporosis Foundation’s (NOF) decision to include prunes on its “Good for Your Bones’ food list. The Prune Health Matters seminar also delivered a constructive forum to discuss the topical sugar debate in light of the most recent SACN (Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition) report. The debate highlighted the current misconceptions and misinformation that exists in relation to the type of sugar that features in fruit and clearly demonstrated the need to address this important issue. In response to this, the California Prune Board has already put in place further research which we hope to disclose in the near future.”
Contact:
Lisa Allen