This study aims to investigate the potential mechanism of action of prune juice concentrate to improve functional constipation based on network pharmacology and clinical trials.Liquid chromatography-refractive index (LC-RI) was used to detect the major components of prune juice.Gene targets of the main components of prune juice were predicted from the DrugBank database,the SwissTarget prediction database and published literature.Targets related to functional constipation were collected from TargetNet database,UniProt database,and GeneCards database.Take the intersection of active ingredient targets and functional constipation targets to make a Venn diagram.Clinical trials were conducted to verify the efficacy of prune juice concentrate in improving functional constipation.Forty-one patients with functional constipation were collected from the outpatient clinic of the Department of Anorectal and Intestinal Surgery of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from March to August 2023.The experiment was conducted using the before-and-after control method and the experimental period was 14 days.constipation severity instrument (CSI),patient assessment of constipation quality of life (PAC-QOL) were used as observation indicators.Experiment results showed that the main components of prune juice concentrate were sorbitol,malic acid,quinic acid,3-hydroxy-2-pyridinecarboxylic acid,fructose,etc.Screening yielded 155 active components of sorbitol,and 84 targets of sorbitol for the treatment of functional constipation.The results of the clinical trial showed that the experimental samples were 41 people,of which three people fell off,and the total effective rate of the experiment was 97.4% (35/38).PAC-QOL and constipation severity scores of the patients after consuming prune juice were significantly reduced compared with those before treatment (all P < 0.001).In terms of safety,no significant adverse effects were observed in patients before and after consumption.This study shows that prune juice concentrate can improve functional constipation through multi-components and multi-targets,and it can alleviate the accompanying symptoms of constipation in patients with good safety and improve the quality of life.