These dried fruits have been a mainstay of the global diet for thousands of years, but it wasn't until the early 20th century that they began to appear on the table in the United States. Nowadays, however, dates are almost ubiquitous, and the demand for this ultra-sweet food has skyrocketed. According to the data, in 2020, Americans consumed more than 32,000 metric tons of dates.
Not only are dates absolutely delicious, but they are a versatile fruit that can be eaten both as a snack on its own and as a range of other dishes – smoothies, as an ingredient in salads, and even as a sweet treat in oatmeal. But considering the natural sweetness of dates, you might wonder if something delicious would be good for you if you eat it every day. Let's take a look at what happens to your body if you eat dates every day.
They can help you relieve constipation.
If you're having a bit of a hard time having a bowel movement, you're not alone. About 4 million people in the United States suffer from constipation on a regular basis, and the feeling is hardly pleasant. But sometimes, a few simple dietary changes can help relieve constipation and help you have more regular bowel movements, and that's where dates come in.
Daily health says it's all thanks to the impressive fiber content in dates (and other dried fruits), which can help make it easier for feces to move through your system. For every two dates, you'll get about 3 grams of fiber. When this fiber passes through your intestines, it attaches to the water. This water then enters your stool, making it softer and less affected. All of this means that it will be much easier for you to go to the toilet. The naturally occurring sorbitol in dates can also relieve the passage of your stool through the body.
Eating dates every day boosts our body's antioxidant capacity.
Ensuring that our food is as nutritious as possible is key to a good diet, and it is crucial to ensure that we are getting enough antioxidant-rich foods. Small molecules of antioxidants help to eliminate the effects of unstable free radicals on our body, which can cause harmful consequences and lead to a range of chronic diseases. Antioxidants can be delivered to the body through a compound called polyphenols, which are found in plant-based foods and have a range of benefits.
If you're looking for the next antioxidant, you may need dates. The study, published in the Journal of the American Society of Nutrition, found that dates had the highest concentration of polyphenols among dried fruits, and figs also had significantly higher levels of antioxidants. However, it's important to point out that when dates (and other dried fruits tested in the study) were processed, their polyphenol levels dropped significantly – so, make sure as much as possible that you're getting an unprocessed date with the highest antioxidant capacity.
You'll get more vitamins and minerals.
Without vitamins and minerals, we would be in terrible shape. Simply put, vitamins and minerals allow our bodies to do everything necessary to keep us healthy, from helping us grow to making sure our immune system is working properly to getting our cells to work properly. Therefore, it is crucial to consume foods rich in vitamins and minerals, and dates can help in many ways.
When you're eating dates, you're getting a lot of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B6, iron, potassium, manganese, magnesium, and copper. Copper is especially important for the body because it not only keeps your nerves and red blood cells functioning properly, but it also helps convert sugar into usable energy. At the same time, manganese supports your body in absorbing calcium, forming connective tissue, and ensuring proper hormone function.
If you eat dates every day, your bones will become stronger.
We all want our bones to stay healthy, but we rarely think about them unless there's a major problem. However, the contribution of your diet to your bone health is essential for the prevention of bone-related diseases, and dates are helpful for our bones and should be put in the forefront.
Shubuk, a registered nutritionist, says dates are a mineral factory that is rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium. According to the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, all of these minerals play a role in enhancing our bone health, and of course, calcium is essential for making (and keeping) our bones and teeth strong. Research published in Nutrition shows that dates are also important for vitamin K** when it comes to vitamins, which plays an important role in bone health by regulating bone metabolism and ensuring that our bodies absorb calcium correctly and maintain high calcium levels.
Eating dates daily may help promote brain health.
When you eat dates every day, you're not just doing your taste buds a favor, you're also doing your brain a favor. Research published in Neuroregeneration Research suggests that dates may be particularly useful in preventing and** certain neurodegenerative diseases.
Researchers have studied the link between dates and potential benefits for a range of neurological conditions. Studies have found that eating dates appears to combat brain inflammation and oxidative stress, which can make the condition more severe. This is most likely due to the impressive polyphenol content in dates, whose antioxidant effects can fight free radical damage. The researchers concluded that while dates have shown great potential in age-related neurodegenerative diseases, more research is needed to determine their exact role.
Dates may help promote healthy hair.
Flowing, shiny hair is the envy of everyone. You just need to eat dates regularly and don't have to spend a lot of money on premium hair products every year!
Skin Alive's Director and Consultant Physician Chabra said: "Dates are rich in iron, which improves blood circulation to the scalp and helps to speed up hair growth. Iron helps blood flow around the body, keeping hair growing healthy and reducing hair loss. ”
Dates can also prevent your hair from falling out by providing strength to the hair follicles and roots, making them stronger and stopping them from breaking. Best of all, you don't need to eat a lot of dates to be good for your hair, and eating just a few dates a day may have positive effects.
If you have kidney disease, you may want to avoid dates.
While dates may be both nutritious and delicious, for some, it's best avoided to avoid them. The impressive nutrient profile of dates is reported to include ample potassium, with four dates providing nearly 700 mg of potassium. This high concentration is largely due to the fact that dates are dried, which increases the nutrient load.
This makes dates particularly unsuitable for people with kidney disease. When you have kidney disease, consuming too much potassium can become a problem because your organs are no longer able to process potassium in the same way. This can lead to a build-up in the body and can cause further damage. It's also worth mentioning that dates aren't the only dried fruit to blame for the risk of high potassium: similar dried fruits, such as prunes and raisins, also produce a lot of minerals that people on low-potassium diets should avoid.
Dates daily may help control blood sugar.
With every bite coming with a juicy sweetness, you might think dates are bad news for your blood sugar. However, if you love dates and are watching your blood sugar levels, you may be in luck. While dates are indeed high in sugar, they are also high in fiber — a fiber that may help limit blood sugar spikes, as research published in the journal Nutrition suggests.
In fact, according to research published in the Journal of Nutrition, this fiber level means that the glycemic index (or GI index) of different varieties of dates is quite low. According to Harvard Health Press, the GI index is a measure of how much a particular food might raise your blood sugar. The study looked at the effect of eating dates on blood sugar levels in diabetics and found that consuming dates did not cause a significant increase in blood sugar, meaning that these fruits had a lower GI index. However, it's important to note that participants in the Journal of Nutrition study ate a small number of dates – if you eat a handful at a time, they still have the potential to increase blood sugar even further.
Eating dates every day will increase your calorie intake.
Well, it sounds a bit silly: after all, eating anything will increase your calorie intake. However, it's still worth considering how much energy you're consuming when you eat dates every day, as dates do contain quite a lot of calories. According to Medical News Today, one of the four dates, which equates to about 100 grams, has about 277 calories. The vast majority of their calories come from plant sugars, with 100 grams of dates providing about 75 grams of carbohydrates, as well as a lot of fiber, a small amount of protein, and almost zero fat.
Now, that's not to say that dates aren't compatible with a healthy lifestyle – they're highly nutritious, after all – or that they can't be incorporated into a reduced-calorie diet that individuals may follow. In fact, the study, published in the journal Nutrition, found that eating dates three times a day did not lead to significant weight gain in participants. However, as with any food, eating more dates will increase your daily calorie intake, and Medical News Today recommends that you try to limit the serving size of dates to 2 per day.
Eating dates can help you improve your mood.
It's easy to see how eating dates can improve your mood: after all, who wouldn't feel happier after a few bites of delicious dates? But it turns out that dates don't just make you feel better, because they taste great. They also have some key ingredients that may improve the mood across the board. As discussed by the BBC, the first is tryptophan in dates. Consuming tryptophan helps our brain produce melatonin and serotonin, which not only make us feel happier and calmer, but also regulate our sleep-wake cycle, ensuring we get the sleep we need.
In addition, dates are an excellent carrier of vitamin B6. As the study published in Nutrition discussed, it is important to maintain the highest levels of B6 levels in the body for a number of reasons, not least because insufficient levels of B6 in the body can lead to an increased incidence of depression. B6 deficiency may also lead to increased irritability, less acute sensations, and decreased cognitive performance.
Eating dates regularly may help reduce the risk of heart disease.
We know that everyone knows how important the heart is. The fact that it pumps blood around our body every day throughout our lives is quite incredible. That's why we're strong proponents of foods that help support heart health.
The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, looked at the effects of eating 100g of dates a day for four weeks on a range of heart health factors. Researchers have found that concomitant consumption of dates can reduce serum triglyceride levels. As stated by the Mayo Clinic, our triglyceride levels are an important factor in our overall heart condition, and high triglyceride levels can significantly increase our risk of heart disease. Research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology also suggests that eating dates specifically may reduce oxidative stress levels, which is also an important factor in heart health.
Is it healthy to use dates instead of sugar?
People are talking about the nutritional value and natural sweetness of dates, so it's no surprise that people often use dates instead of sugar in recipes in an attempt to make healthier choices while reaping the benefits of syrupy taste.
Dates contain more fiber and have a lower GI index than sugar, making dates a potentially healthier option for people trying to control their blood sugar. However, it is important to point out that the type of sugar in dates is fructose, and while this sugar is naturally occurring, consuming too much of it can lead to a range of health problems, especially metabolic syndrome. So, while dates can be added in place of sugar when appropriate, it's also important to observe your sugar intake overall.
Benefits of dates