Plums - The Undiscovered Superfood

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

With all the marketing hooplah over superfoods like acai, goji and noni, we tend to forget that some of the best superfoods on the planet are right under our noses and don't cost an arm and a leg (like some of these overpriced multi-level marketed juice drinks do). And the latest hero to emerge on the superstar galaxy is, get ready for this: Plums. Yup, plums.

Food scientist Dr. Luis Cisneros and plant breeder David Byrne judged more than 100 varieties of plums, peaches and nectarines and found them to match (or even exceed) the highly valued blueberries in antioxidants and phytonutrients. According to Byrne, one inexpensive plum contains about the same amount of antioxidants as a handful of blueberries.

Photo: rosevita/morgueFile

"People tend to eat just a few blueberries at a time -- a few on the cereal or as an ingredient mixed with lots of sugar," Cisneros said in a press release. "But people will eat a whole plum at once and get the full benefit."

"We suggest that consumers take seriously the recommendation to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables -- or even more -- every day and to make sure that plums are part of that," Byrne said.

Plums are a great part of a weight management diet. A cup of pitted plums has about 100 calories, more than 2 grams of fiber and almost as much potassium as a banana.