With their mild sweetness, plums are often overlooked for the flashier summer fruits, like , and . But plums provide benefits for your gut, heart and bone health year-round, experts say, and they deserve a space on your plate. The stone fruits “contain over 15 different vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber, carbohydrates and antioxidants,” Shelly Wegman, registered dietitian at UNC Rex Nutrition Services, tells TODAY.
com Plums are low in calories yet high in fiber and sweetness, Grace Derocha, registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, tells TODAY.com. Nutritionally, plums promote digestive health due to their fiber, she says, but they also have plenty of other lesser known benefits for heart and bone health.
And with more than 2,000 varieties of plums out there to explore, Derocha says, it's worth giving these stone fruits a chance. In , you'll find: As you can see, plums are sweet yet low in calories and sugar — even lower than some other stone fruits, like . Plums also provide a bit of fiber and plenty of other healthful nutrients.
Plums may be small, but they're filled to the brim with healthy compounds and nutrients. They're particularly rich in soluble fiber, Wegman says. and swells within the intestines, as TODAY.
com explained previously, which slows down your meals as they move through your gut. In this way, soluble fiber leads to feelings of fullness after a meal. It also can also help improve both cholesterol and blood.