Check out these eight juices and fruits that act as natural laxatives and how to ingest them for results, according to Shirin Buta, a registered Medical Laboratory, Immunology, and Serology Scientist.
At some point, we’ve all experienced the difficulties of constipation. Struggling during a bowel movement may seem normal, but unmanaged or chronic constipation can lead to serious diseases. While you can resort to commercial laxatives, drinking natural juices is a better way to relieve constipation.
Check out these eight juices and fruits that act as natural laxatives and how to ingest them for results, according to Shirin Buta, a registered Medical Laboratory, Immunology, and Serology Scientist.
1. Prune juice
Prune juice is the best juice that will immediately make you poop because it has high sorbitol, fiber, and fructose levels that soften and bulks up the stool.
Prune is a dried plum that produces a sweet taste when juiced. A cup of these tiny fruits contains 12 grams of dietary fiber, around 50% of the required daily fiber intake. They also have the highest sorbitol levels among fruits, making them the best natural laxative.
Sorbitol acts as a stool softener by drawing water into the gut, ensuring quick digestion and regular bowel movement. Moreover, prune juice contains more than 80% water, and it is also rich in fructose (14.8 grams), facilitating constipation relief.
To relieve constipation, you should take a glass of prune juice or 6 pieces of dried fruit to observe relief.
This should resolve occasional constipation within 2-3 days, and chronic constipation within 1-3 weeks of drinking prune juice.
2. Pear juice
Like prune juice, pear juice is a rich source of dietary fiber, sorbitol, fructose, and water. A single medium-sized pear provides around 21% of the required daily fiber intake and contains 80-84% water, and 100 grams of pears contain 2.1 grams of sorbitol, making them an excellent juice for constipation relief.
Pear juice also contains high levels of vitamin C, a potent antioxidant that fights digestive infections and has a mild laxative effect. Each glass of pear juice provides 141% of the required daily vitamin C intake.
You are allowed to drink up to two glasses of pear juice a day to relieve occasional constipation.
Drinking pear juice in the morning will relieve occasional constipation and make you poop within 24 hours. However, if you have chronic constipation, it might take a week before you see improvements. Increasing the dosage is unnecessary, as too much pear juice might cause diarrhea. Drink 6-8 glasses of water along with 2 glasses of pear juice for faster results.
3. Grape juice
Grape juice is probably the tastiest juice with natural laxative effects and offers immediate constipation relief. Aside from containing fiber, grapes are a rich source of sorbitol and magnesium. Magnesium plays an essential role in constipation relief by relaxing bowel movements and acting as a stool softener, making it one of the common contents of most over-the-counter laxatives.
Grape juice also contains tartaric acid and malic acid as its main acid contents, which regulate digestion by maintaining the pH of your digestive system.
4. Pineapple juice
Aside from providing fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, and fructose that aid digestion, pineapples contain bromelain, a digestive enzyme that breaks down protein. When taken in adequate amounts, bromelain helps digestion by breaking down meat and other food that delays digestion.
Aside from being a natural laxative, pineapples contain high levels of antioxidants that prevent inflammation and cancer. In addition, regular intake can ease irritable bowel syndromes, relieve digestive system inflammations, and reduce the risks of colon cancer and rectal cancer.
You can drink a glass of pineapple juice a day and increase the dosage to two glasses when needed. It should relieve occasional constipation and make you poop within 24 hours but may take a week to relieve chronic constipation. However, people with allergies, diabetes, and kidney problems should prevent drinking too much pineapple juice to avoid complications.
