Hello and welcome to the Nutrition Diva Podcast. I'm your host, Monica Reinagle. I got

a great email last week from a listener who was confused about prunes, or more specifically,

by information about prunes they were finding online. Here's the email. There are sources

that recommend 100 grams of prunes per day for constipation. This works out to 38 grams

of sugar. Although it's naturally occurring sugar, not added, it still seems like a lot

for every day. Other sources say that the sorbitol in prunes mitigates the effect on blood

sugar, and that the laxative effect of the sorbitol is as useful as the fiber content. Is

the sorbitol included in that total sugar amount, or is it separate? Does it really mitigate

blood sugar response? Is eating that many prunes every day a bad idea? Signed, confused,

and constipated. So many good questions in there, and with any luck, I can address both

the confusion and the constipation in this episode. So let's start with the nutritional

content of prunes. A serving of pitted prunes, that's about three or four prunes, contains

about 100 calories, 16 grams of sugar, 3 grams of fiber, and about 5 grams of sorbitol.

And the sorbitol is not included in the amount of sugar, it's additional. Now sorbitol

is a type of molecule known as a sugar alcohol. It contains neither sugar nor alcohol.

Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I don't name the molecules. Although they taste sweet

to us, sugar alcohols are lower in calories than regular sugar, and they don't affect

blood sugar levels. You'll often find them in sugar-free products or foods made for people

with diabetes. Other common sugar alcohols include xylitol, maltitol, and arrhythritol.

But unlike most of the sugar alcohols that we encounter in the food supply, the sorbitol

in prunes is naturally occurring. Now sugar alcohol, when consumed in sufficient quantities,

can have a laxative effect, and you'll sometimes see warnings to this effect on foods sweetened

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