Plums Benefits: USDA Plum Nutrition, Calories and Pit Safety

Plums benefits are modest but real: one fresh plum has only about 30 calories and gives you a little fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K and potassium, according to USDA data. A cup of sliced plums supplies about 17% of the Daily Value for vitamin C. Most of the research people quote about plums was actually done on prunes, which are dried plums with a very different nutrient profile. Below are the USDA plum nutrition facts, how fresh, canned and dried plums compare, what the studies on fresh plums do and do not show, and the one safety point everyone should know: plum pits contain amygdalin and should never be chewed or crushed.

Peptide Labs does not sell plums or plum products. This article is general nutrition information, not medical advice.

Plum nutrition per fruit and per cup

The table uses the USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy entry for raw plums (FDC 169949), converted to USDA’s portion weights for one medium plum about 2 inches across (66 grams) and one cup of slices (165 grams). The percent Daily Value (%DV) uses the FDA Daily Values printed on Nutrition Facts labels.

Plums are about 87% water in USDA data, which is why plum calories are low: about 46 per 100 grams. No single nutrient stands out the way vitamin C does in strawberries; plums are a broad, light source of several nutrients rather than a rich source of one. The skin carries most of the deep red and purple anthocyanin pigments, so eating the whole fruit, skin on, is the simplest way to get them. Those pigments are the reason plums appear in our roundup of antioxidant-rich foods.

Plum calories and sugar compared with other fruits

The natural sugar in plums is mostly glucose and fructose, with some sucrose. Per typical serving, a fresh plum is one of the lighter fruit choices. Our guide to fruit sugar levels has a longer list, and our list of fiber-rich foods shows where fruit fits among beans, grains and vegetables. The table compares common servings.

If you are eating smaller portions on a GLP-1 medicine, our GLP-1 diet guide explains how water-rich fruits like plums fit in. For a sweeter stone fruit with more fiber per cup, see our sibling guide to cherries.

Fresh, canned and dried plums

Canned plums are usually purple plums packed with their liquid. What they are packed in matters more than the canning itself: water-packed plums are close to fresh on sugar per cup, while heavy-syrup plums carry more than twice as much. Canned plums in USDA data are also lower in vitamin C than fresh but higher in vitamin A, so check the label and the packing liquid.

Prunes are a special case. Drying removes most of the water, so five prunes pack more calories, fiber and vitamin K than a whole cup of fresh plums, and they are known for their sorbitol content. Our prunes guide covers their nutrition and the bone and digestion studies, and our prune juice guide explains how the juice differs from the whole fruit. Plums are also a source of potassium, though a modest one per serving; our list of potassium-rich foods has richer options.

Plums benefits: what the research shows

Research on fresh plums in people is thin. A 2016 systematic review in Phytotherapy Research gathered 73 studies on European plums (Prunus domestica) and Japanese plums (Prunus salicina), including lab, animal and human work. Its main findings:

• Low level of evidence: the authors concluded that the level of evidence on plums remains low.
• Few strong human studies: of 25 human studies, only 6 were confirmatory studies of moderate quality; the other 19 were exploratory.
• Mostly dried plums: most human trials used dried plums rather than fresh fruit, so their results describe prunes, not the plums in a fruit bowl.
• Lab and animal signals: plums show antioxidant activity in lab tests, and some studies linked plum intake with cognitive, bone and heart-risk markers, but these are early findings rather than proof of health effects.

The fair summary is that plums are a low-calorie, water-rich fruit that adds variety, color and some fiber to an eating pattern rich in plants. Claims that fresh plums protect any organ or reverse any condition go beyond the evidence. If you have a specific health concern, talk to your clinician rather than relying on a single food.

Are plum pits poisonous?

The pit, or stone, at the center of a plum is the seed. Inside its hard shell is a kernel that contains amygdalin, a natural compound that the body converts to cyanide. The National Cancer Institute describes amygdalin as a compound found in the pits of many fruits and raw nuts, and notes that laetrile, a drug form of it once promoted for cancer, is not approved for use in the United States.

• Swallowed whole by accident: Poison Control says a whole seed should pass through the digestive tract and leave in the stool, and that swallowing one or two whole plum or prune seeds is unlikely to cause harm.
• Chewed or crushed: crushing or chewing the pit, or swallowing several, raises the risk because it releases amygdalin. Never crack plum pits to eat the kernels, and do not grind them into smoothies or homemade remedies.
• Warning signs: symptoms of cyanide poisoning listed by Poison Control include headache, trouble breathing, fainting, seizures and collapse.
• What to do: if a pit was chewed or crushed, several were swallowed, or anyone has symptoms, contact Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 or use its webPOISONCONTROL tool, and call 911 for breathing trouble or collapse.

For young children, pit the fruit before serving. The same caution applies to cherries, peaches and apricots, which belong to the same plant family.

Plum allergy and other cautions

• Stone fruit cross-reactivity: plums, peaches, cherries and apricots share allergy-causing proteins. A 1994 study of 23 people with mouth itching and swelling from peaches found wide cross-reactivity across these fruits, driven mainly by one shared protein.
• Labels: plum is not one of the nine major food allergens that US labeling law requires companies to declare, so people who react need to read ingredient lists. Our elimination diet guide explains why food testing should be supervised by an allergist.
• Kidney disease: NIH notes that people with chronic kidney disease can develop high blood potassium, so anyone with a potassium limit should ask their care team how fruit fits.
• Emergencies: hives, swelling of the lips or throat, or breathing trouble after eating plums needs urgent care.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions about a label? Contact us or read our Buyer’s Guide. Food comes first; follow the label and ask a healthcare provider before starting a supplement, especially if you take medicines, are pregnant, have kidney disease or have a food allergy. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Last reviewed October 2026.

Related guides: Cherries Benefits: USDA Cherry Nutrition, Sweet vs Tart and Pits, Prunes: USDA Nutrition, Sorbitol, Constipation and Bone Research, Foods High in Vitamin K: USDA List, K1 vs K2 and Warfarin Notes, Apricots: Nutrition, Benefits, Dried Apricots and Kernel Safety, Types of Plums: European, Japanese and Prune Plums.