People still use prune juice. But I have seen it fail for many. The virgin olive oil doesn't work for everyone either, but it sure works for me. I can't use olive oil in cooking!

The people here on our other forums who use opioids in high doses have a paste they use sometimes, made from dates, raisins and prunes.

For a while I collected old pharmaceutical remedies, vintage age. 1900's and before. I am going to do watercolors incorporating remedies so I needed some reference material.

By far while searching Ebay, I discovered just how common laxative remedies were in the 1800's and early 1900's. Just about every "cold" product had a laxative in it. From my experience it seems like almost all remedies in the past, had a laxative added to them. Back then they were called purgatives.
Historically doctors mostly bled patients or used purgatives for just about everything.

When I don't buy an offer, I save its photo digitally and here is one that illustrates my point:
Black Crow Pills:

I've been using an insoluble fiber product for constipation. I can post the name here or by PM. Like with most laxatives (for me), it worked effectively in the beginning. Now, it takes a little more time and a lot more water.

Prunes and prune juice, dates and figs can be good, but one worries about the sugar.

I hear ya. My guess about the quality and severity of reaction may vary as to whether the sugar was added, or simply the naturally occurring Fructose, which last I heard was a recommended sweetener even for Diabetics.

I forgot to mention Triphala for constipation. I take one every day.

That's interestingly funny, as whether it's sauteing or frying I always use virgin olive oil (unless it's a quick cook stir-fry at full heat which requires peanut oil so the hook and ladder trucks don't surround the house from the billowing smoke) and have never had the slightest loosening reaction. For a light meal for myself it's not too seldom for me to prepare a decent sized bowl of pasta, douse it liberally with virgin olive oil, and cover completely with ground herbs--again, no reaction.(unless, of course, I add prunes.)

Regarding the old catch-all "cold" (you might just as well call them "whatever") remedies, in most that I've found, not only is a purgative and/or an emetic added, but don't forget the ever-present companion: Paregoric, combined with the odd evolved folk cures many of which were local tweakings of lore come to our shores from age old African cultures due to the slave trade. It seems that before the widespread acceptance of Microbiology, the philosophy of medicine generally was: treat the symptomatic discomfort, and purge the body either from one end, the other, or sic your leeches and bleed the patient half to death. In the mid-1960s, back when folks still read, I'd frequent old bookstores in the East Village, Manhattan where the shelves were filled with such relatively ancient medical "textbooks"for around 25 cents per. I was in my teens and guess I figured they'd always be around. Wrong once more.