Q: My husband and I are taking a combination of grape juice and pectin for arthritis pain, and it is definitely helping my hips. But my husband has found another reason for using it. He has been able to stop using all his other aids for constipation!
For years he has had to use Citrucel and recently added milk of magnesia to his regimen. But the grape/pectin combo just twice a day has eliminated the need for anything else. (He takes 2 teaspoons in 3 ounces of grape juice twice daily). He’s sold on it.
A: A reader who was disappointed in the gin-soaked raisins for arthritis pain wrote to us over 20 years ago to report Certo in purple grape juice worked wonders for his sore joints. Liquid pectin (Certo) is soluble fiber extracted from plants. It can be found in the home-canning section of grocery stores. That’s because it helps thicken jams and jellies.
Chinese researchers have confirmed your observation about constipation. They performed a randomized clinical trial testing plant pectin against placebo (Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi, Dec 30, 2014). The scientists reported that soluble dietary fiber accelerated the time food residue passed through the colon and reduced symptoms of constipation. There also was an im
provement in the bacterial ecology of the digestive tract.
- article by Joe and Teresa Graedon
- copyright The Seattle Times