Consuming dried plums, Prunus domestica, appears to reduce bone loss and may increase bone mass. Studying 236 post-menopausal women for one year, Florida State University researchers gave half of the women 100 grams of dried plums per day, while the other group received 100 grams of dried apples. Bone scans done at three, six and 12 months found significantly greater bone mineral density among the group that ate dried plums.

A study from Oklahoma State University showed similar results with post-menopausal mice put on a diet supplemented with dried plums or other dried fruits for two months. Only the diet with dried plums prevented bone loss among the mice.

Another study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, found increased bone mass among both elderly and adult male mice that ate a diet comprising 25 percent dried plums, while those that did not eat dried plums lost bone mass.