Prunes

Why prunes is rated high

Prunes are high FODMAP at ¼ cup (80g), the only serving tested, and Sorbitol is the whole story. Prunes are dried plums, and drying is what makes them so concentrated: the water goes, the sorbitol stays, so the same load that sat in a whole piece of fresh fruit now fits into a few chewy pieces. That is why prunes are one of the dried fruits most likely to cause trouble on a low FODMAP diet. There is no lower rung on the ladder, so there is no tested amount that comes in low, and prunes are usually kept out during the strict phase and revisited later with a dietitian.

What changes your risk

• Serving size The tested data gives one rung, ¼ cup (80g), and it is high. Nothing smaller has been tested, so no lower prune serving can be named.
• Drying is the mechanism Removing water concentrates everything left behind, which is why a dried prune carries more sorbitol per mouthful than the fresh plum it came from. Any dried fruit follows the same rule, and prunes are a strong example of it.
• Prune juice Juice takes the sorbitol of a number of prunes into a single glass and leaves the fibre behind, so it runs higher than the fruit and goes down far faster.
• Baking and stewing Simmering prunes for a compote, a tagine or a sticky pudding does not destroy the sorbitol, since heat does not break FODMAPs down. Water soluble FODMAPs can move into the cooking liquid, but that liquid usually goes into the dish, and no drained serving has been tested.
• Stacking with other sorbitol foods Sorbitol from prunes lands in the same bucket as apricot, plum, peach, blackberry, avocado and anything sweetened with sorbitol, xylitol or maltitol, so a prune in the morning and a sugar free mint in the afternoon are not two separate events as far as the day's load goes.

Swaps

There is no honest dried fruit swap for prunes, and it is better to say that than to point you at another one, because the concentrating effect of drying is the problem rather than the particular fruit. Instead, change the job the prune was doing. For chewy sweetness in a snack, peanuts, walnuts, pecans, macadamias and pumpkin seeds give you something to graze on. For moisture and sweetness in baking, mashed firm just-yellow banana carries the same job, and maple syrup, table sugar or rice malt syrup covers the sweetening. For the dark, sticky note in a stew or tagine, a little maple syrup with the spices gets you closer than any fruit will. When you simply want fruit, grapes, oranges, mandarins, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries are the reliable choices.

How to lower the load

Prunes are easy to eat without counting, so the practical move is keeping them out of arm's reach rather than trying to ration them. Check the labels on muesli, granola, trail mix, breakfast bars, fruit and nut chocolate and bakery loaves, where chopped prune turns up as a sweetener and a binder and is often listed as dried plum. Prune paste and prune juice concentrate do the same work in supermarket baked goods and no added sugar products. If a family recipe leans on prunes, test it once with banana for the body and maple syrup for the darkness before an occasion rather than on the day, and keep a jar of nuts or a bag of grapes where the prune packet used to live.

Common questions

how many prunes can i eat on a low fodmap diet

No low amount has been tested. The only tested serving, ¼ cup (80g), is high, so the data does not support any portion of prunes as low.

why are prunes so high in sorbitol

Prunes are dried plums, and drying removes the water while leaving the sorbitol behind. That concentration is why ¼ cup (80g) lands high.

is prune juice low fodmap

No. Juicing concentrates the sorbitol of several prunes into one glass and drops the fibre, so it runs higher than the dried fruit, which is already high at ¼ cup (80g).

what can i use instead of prunes in baking

Mashed firm just-yellow banana gives the moisture and body, and maple syrup, table sugar or rice malt syrup handles the sweetness. There is no dried fruit that safely fills the same role.