Hi.  My father in law has a problem with his sugar but he also needs to drink prune juice to help him with his bowels so he would like to know if he can buy  unsweetened prune juice.    If you can, please E-mail me one way or the other; I would appreciate it.   Thank you. 

Bess W. Metcalf......Naturally Sweet

The reason you cannot buy "unsweetened" prune juice is that there isn't any added sugar in it.  Prune juice is chock full of natural concentrated sugars.  Unfortunately, the body cannot distinguish between fructose, sucrose or any other of the -ose family-  all sugars.

If your father in law can work some prune juice into his prescribed diet, fine.  But if he is truly diabetic, he may not be able to take in enough to do any good without boosting his blood sugar levels.

I would suggest a three-prong approach, one that will be very beneficial for his diabetes, also. 

• Double or triple the amount of water he is drinking.  If he drinks diet sodas, coffee or tea in large quantities, cut back.  These do not count in the consumption of liquid; in fact they can reduce the amount of liquid available for the body to utilize.   This makes the bowel dryer, causing constipation.  More water can aid the circulation as well, something that diabetics need.
  
  
• Get a lot more fiber in the diet.  Many veggies are great for this, also oat and wheat bran, and other whole grain products.  Brown rice instead of white, whole wheat cereal and bread.   Very important:  add ground flaxseed to the diet.  It's great in any type of cold or hot cereal or home-made bread, pancakes, etc., has important nutrients, fiber and a naturally laxative effect.  You can get it a health food stores.  Keep it refrigerated.  
  
  
• Get a lot more exercise.  If he is physically inactive, he may need to check with his doctor to see what kind of exercise would be permissible, but walking is rarely harmful for anyone.  Exercise is highly beneficial for diabetics, for heart health, circulatory health and blood sugar reduction, and aids in bowel regularity as well.

If all this fails, or if he is seriously diabetic or his disease is already causing serious complications, check with his doctor for assistance. 

In other words, while prune juice or laxatives may provide a "quick fix", something human beings are all too desirous of,  getting to the root of the problem is a much healthier approach.    

Too little water, too much coffee and sodas, too little fiber and a sedentary lifestyle in the USA (and elsewhere, I'm sure) combine to make laxative producers and sellers very happy campers.

Related:

• Those Funny Prunes 
• The Fats of Life 
• Flaxseed (at All Health)

As usual when someone sends a question that really needs an expert, I pass it by Dietitian Jessica Setnick.   She's a busy lady, and often the page is published before she can get back to me with a recommendation, approval or critique.  This was the case with "Prune Juice Dilemma".     

I don't believe I was thinking clearly, although in general I stand by my advice, and I did write a precaution near the end:

"If all this fails, or if he is seriously diabetic or his disease is already causing serious complications, check with his doctor for assistance." 

The writer mentioned that his father-in-law "had a problem with his sugar" which, being foggy-brained from a bad cold, I took to mean a slight tendency to diabetes, but not a full-blown case, which may or may not be true.  Jessica was concerned also, and rightly so, with the suggestion to drink more water, as follows: 

This man may have congestive heart failure or kidney failure, and recommending that he drink more water may harm him.

And of course that is true.  If there's any possibility of this or any other serious health problem, he should certainly check with his doctor before greatly increasing his liquid intake.  It is a fact, however, that most Americans (myself included) often fail to drink the recommended eight glasses of water daily (soft drinks, coffee and tea excluded), something that contributes to both constipation and difficulty in losing weight and keeping it off.

In addition, in regards to the fiber: persons with irritable bowel problems should check with their health specialist before greatly increasing their fiber intake.  Discomfort, gas and cramping may ensue unless the increase in dietary fiber is gradual.  Also, an increase in fiber without drinking sufficient liquid (not including soft drinks, coffee and tea) can actually make constipation worse.  Such is the warning on psyllium-based stool softeners.  If a person takes an excessive amount of this popular stool softener, thinking of it as a laxative, and fails to drink a large quantity of liquid, they can, literally, be in deep doo-doo with a bowel blockage that may even require surgery.

So be forewarned:  persons with any health problems or even those middle-aged or older would do well to check with a medical expert before radically changing their diet and/or exercise patterns.  See disclaimer at the bottom of this page.

Thanks, Jessica, as always, for your suggestions and warnings.  

My co-workers and I have a couple questions about Prune Juice.  How is it made?  Where does the juice come from, since dried plums don't have much liquid in them?  Is there such thing as Plum juice?   Thanks! 

Stapletons Technical Bulletin give the details clearly and briefly.   It's not a difficult process, involving reconstitution of the "dried plums", as they are now called.

As far as plum juice is concerned, apparently it's a mostly oriental specialty item, even being sold in concentrate, but I don't think you'd find it in your average supermarket outside of Eastern countries.   Green plum juice is a delicacy in China, for instance, and in Japan sour plum juice is used.   

When you asked about plum juice, I don't think this impossibly odd cooler called  Plum Juice is exactly what you had in mind.  It's from India, and tastes certainly differ from country to country, but to be fair, lots of people, me included, enjoy black pepper in tomato juice.   

Here's another cooler using plum juice, again, extracted from real plums on the spot:    Sparkling Ginger Plum Lemonade.

Hope this answers your questions.

Related:   

• Those Funny Prunes    
• A prune by any other name

Hello! I'm just wondering is there such a thing as too much water in your diet. I have recently switched from diet colas to water and I'm seeing some benefits.  However, I am wondering if you could drink too much? I usually drink about 3 quarts of water a day. Is this too much? I feel like I am retaining a lot of water during the day. There are times when it feels like my fingers are tight and look swollen.  Someone said there is something called H2O intoxication.  Is this for real?  Please help me in any way you can. 

Bess W. Metcalf....Sometimes too much water

07/21/02

Yes, there is such a thing as water intoxication.  Some people have even died from it!   However, 3 quarts a day isn't necessarily too much.  But it might be.  See Water Intoxication by the University of Florida.

The primary danger in drinking too much water is as stated in the above mentioned article; the blood can become too diluted and not contain enough sodium and other minerals.  Your own personal water needs and limits can vary greatly.  For instance, do you work in the heat where you sweat a lot?  This increases your water needs, and also increases one's needs for minerals, which are excreted in sweat and urine.  My husband, for instance, is often in the heat here in Florida and has always sweated excessively.  He takes a daily mineral cap, and also a potassium pill which most people SHOULD NOT DO!  unless prescribed by a doctor.  If he doesn't, he gets exhausted easier and has leg cramps.   

If you continue to have a problem with your fingers swelling, check your ankles, too, especially if you sit a lot.  If a finger dent in the ankle doesn't fill right back in, you ought to think about getting a medical checkup right away.  You may have circulatory or heart problems, or a kidney function disorder, that can be controlled with early diagnosis and treatment.  Or your water retention may simply be hormonal.  

Unless you are taking in a lot more total fluids than previously, I cannot see why you would retain the water, but hey!  What do I know, I'm not a doctor.  If everything else checks out, TwinLab has a great multi-mineral capsule, sold mostly in "health food" catalogs and stores.  I take one every day, and have done so for years.  I know I feel better physically and mentally if I do so, even though I eat a healthy and varied diet.   Probably has something to do with living in the sub-tropics. 

I love the taste of prune juice but it gives me gas and I want to know how much I can drink in a day and be safe?

Read the previous entries in this Forum, including Page 1, and you'll see that this isn't a simple question.    First, if you need to watch your sugar intake, be aware that in addition to being stuffed with all kinds of nutrition, prunes - or "dried plums" as the industry now wishes to call them - are very high in natural sugar.   If you aren't diabetic or pre-diabetic, nor at risk, you can cut the risk by drinking the juice with meals or a snack which is harder to digest, such as beans, cheese, meat or fibrous veggies.

Second, too much prune juice will be too laxative.  If you are not too "loose" and just have gas, probably you need to eat more high fiber food and maybe more plain water.  That's just a guess, and please note that too much fiber increase can in itself cause gas and intestinal discomfort until your innards get used to the additional fiber.  

Third, prune juice is high in calories, so if you are watching you weight, you may not be aware of how many calories you're getting. 

In absence of any medical problem, I'd hazard a guess that it would be safe to drink just enough that you don't get gas.  If you have gas, maybe you're over-doing it.     

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