Dates or dates are delicious, the taste is loved and preferred by many people, especially Arabs, and regardless of the way they eat it, whether with bread, milk or coffee, it is a very useful and delicious dried food also suitable for diet and energy supply and prevent or reducing disease, also suitable for diabetes and weight reduction, as it falls under the list of foods that lend the stomach and is very useful in cases of constipation and digestion, where the tissues lead It stimulates the intestine when it is stagnant or inactive. To increase its effect, it is soaked in water in the evening and taken in the morning. The useful nicotine present in dates is an excellent treatment for intestinal disorders. Experts point out that eating dates in abundance leads to the presence of beneficial bacteria in Intestine.
In addition to the great tasting, dates contain proteins, vitamins and minerals. They are also:
- High in polyphenols. Polyphenols are antioxidant compounds that can protect the body from inflammation. Dates contain more polyphenols than most other fruits and vegetables.
- Alternative to empty caloric sweets. Dates can satisfy a person's sweet tooth while providing essential nutrients, such as vitamin B-6 and iron as well as magnesium.
- Highly fiber content properties. Only ¼ cup of dates provides 12 percent of a person's daily fiber requirement. Fiber helps a person feel fuller longer.
- High potassium content. Dates are rich in potassium, which is an electrolyte that the body needs for good heart health. Potassium also helps build muscles and proteins in the body.
- Ideal for substitutions People can replace sugar, chocolate chips or sweets in pastry recipes with dates to ensure they eat natural sugars rather than refined sugars.
The nutritional value of dates
Dates are one of the most common types of fruits, and they are a healthy, concentrated and natural food. Dates are characterized by many foods that they contain nutrients that are beneficial to the human body and many people around the world feed on their fruits. Dates are rich in sugars 65-75% as well as rich in mineral salts and many vitamins. It is composed of 21% water, 1.2% protein, 18% fats, 73% sugars and 3% fiber.
Dates nutrition facts:
- calories: 20
- total fat: 0.03 grams (g)
- total carbohydrates: 5.33 g
- dietary fiber: 0.6 g
- sugar: 4.5 g
- protein: 0.17 g
- vitamin B-6: 0.012 milligrams (mg)
- iron: 0.07 mg
- magnesium: 3 mg
- potassium: 47 mg
The benefits of dates
The Messenger of Islam, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, recommended eating dates because of their great benefits. It is proven in the Sahih, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him: “Whoever becomes seven dates will not harm him on that day, poison or sorcery.”
- Tonic for the liver and diuretic
- Stomach laxative
- A natural aphrodisiac
- Treats throat roughness
- Nourishes the body
- It kills stomach worms
- It strengthens muscles and nerves and delays aging
- Fights constipation and eliminates heartburn
- Rich in grape sugar, cane sugar and fructose
- It gives iron needed to build the body and phosphorus to help focus
- Helps calm nerves
- It is considered a complete meal if it is taken with milk
Risks and Considerations
- Dates have a very high sugar content relative to the rest of their nutritional value. People who try to control their blood sugar levels, such as people with diabetes, should be aware of their total sugar intake when consuming dates.
- Eating dates in moderation is unlikely to increase an excess person's blood sugar, even if he suffers from diabetes.
- According to one study, dates are a low glycemic food that does not result in a significant increase in blood sugar levels in people with or without diabetes.
- Although researchers had only a small sample size, their results indicate that moderate consumption dates should not dramatically affect a person's blood sugar levels.
Here are some examples of dishes with dates:
- Stuffed dates: People can fill dates with almonds, nuts, cream cheese or pistachios for a snack or a finger meal.
- Salads: Chopped, cut or boneless whole dates are a great addition to salads.
- Smoothies: Blending dates in a banana smoothie adds natural sweetness and added nutritional value.
- Stews: Dates taste good in Moroccan stews or tagin dishes.
- Energy Balls: People can mix dates with nuts, blueberries, oats, coconut floakes or a variety of other ingredients to make “energy balls” without cooking.
Studies on dates
Using dates as food for chickens instead of fodder in Saudi Arabia !!
In Saudi Arabia, the implementation of a study to use “dates” as alternatives to soybean-based chicken feed was announced in Saudi Arabia, in a move to reduce the costs of imported fodder and reduce the price of selling poultry inside the country, which is what consumers hope depends on after the sudden rise in prices. Hoda Al-Sham Research Institute of King Abdulaziz University to study the possibility of using the surplus date kernel from palm production as an alternative to be added to the formulation of fodder used in raising and fattening chickens of all kinds, in order to provide a local alternative to soybeans that are imported at the present time. The most important factors that helped to raise prices due to its high costs. Engineer Muhammad Abdullah, an expert in chicken nutrition, said: “Chicken food depends on high protein, and therefore soybeans is an essential food in chicken feed, while the use of dates requires complex operations. During which the high humidity is removed from it and converted into a substance that is a powder, indicating that dates, if successful as an alternative food, can be used in cases of severe soy shortage, but it cannot be relied upon at time. The current, unless new ideas are proposed through scientific research. Abdullah added: “Soybeans represent 25 percent of the cost of feed, while fodder constitutes 70 percent, and five percent represents the addition of some auxiliary materials in the growth process. Investment in the poultry sector in Saudi Arabia amounted to more than 31 billion Saudi riyals, and the number of farms reached more than 450 poultry farms between carnivores, eggs and mothers. The production of broiler chickens is estimated at about 500 million chickens per year and about 2.5 billion eggs per year and about 600 million chicks and eggs produced from Chicken mother projects, while the annual per capita consumption of poultry in Saudi Arabia is 38 kg per year and 120 eggs per year. Saudi Arabia ranks third in per capita consumption of poultry in the world.
The substance of tannin found in dates
Certainly, there are benefits to dates or passages. Its yellow or red color indicates its richness in antioxidants, which fight the formation of free electrolytes that cause cell destruction. It also has a large proportion of vitamin C that dates lose by turning them into wet and then into dates. The caloric content of dates is less than the content of wet or fully ripened dates, and the percentage of insoluble fibers in them helps in the analysis of tumors in the gastrointestinal tract, but these benefits clash with the large amount of tannin in dates, so even dates or seeds are sweet, their sweetness covers the amount of tannins in it. It should not be consumed too much, as eating too much causes intestinal upset and indigestion. Not much research has been conducted on the effect of consuming tannins on the digestive process, especially when consumed with other foods, but it is known that they are multi-phenolic compounds that have the ability to adhere to protein, starch, fiber and mineral molecules, especially iron. This leads to the possibility that the body will not benefit from the nutrient particles that a person consumes with dates, and they leave the body without benefiting from them. And God has great wisdom that it is difficult to keep dates fresh for a long time as an indication that it is not necessary to continue eating dates in the off season because of that. The effect on the absorption of other foods. The best stages of date growth is the wet phase, when the fruit is still rich in moisture, but it has got rid of a large amount of tannin in it, and the sugars have not been concentrated in It is as concentrated when it turns into a fully ripe date. At this stage, Al Matb can be stored in the freezer and enjoy all year round. When Al-Rataba turns into dates while he is in his palm, the percentage of moisture in it decreases, the percentage of sugars increases, and it becomes a food rich in calories and easy to preserve for long periods. Although dates are one of the best and widely cultivated products in our country, until now they have not been utilized in food processing as they should. The Department of Food and Nutrition Sciences at the College of Agriculture at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman has published an article entitled: Dates: A Promising Fruit for Processing DATES: A Fruit of Promise for the Food Industry, in which he focused on the importance of utilizing dates in the production of useful materials for food processing, such as the extraction of pectin, a carbohydrate polymer that has the property of forming jelly in the presence of sugar and acid. And the extraction of date syrup, which is a sweet natural liquid used as an alternative to white sugar. Refined without nutrients. including extracting natural vegetable fibers from dates.
Types of dates and their benefits (In Arabic Names)
Al-Barhi: It is one of the best types of palm, so it is characterized by the good taste of its fruits in all its stages (during - wet - dates), and among its benefits it works to help in the digestion of the food before it after eating its fruits, and therefore it is recommended to eat the fruit of the date palm at the end of the meal to help it digestion.
Salvation: salvation is considered one of the best types of palm trees, especially because it tastes delicious dates, and the salvation dates are distinguished by their brightness, so the beauty of its appearance is equivalent to its good taste, and what distinguishes salvation is that its date (through it) is not good in taste.
Al-Sukkari: As it is clear from the name, it indicates the sweetness of its taste. The taste of Sukkari dates resembles the taste of sugar, and it is also distinguished by the color of its red dates, as it is not the yellowish of dates like al-Barhi and al-Khalas and others.
Al-Samran: It is one of the many types of palm, but the most important thing that distinguishes this type of palm from others is that the size of the fruits and kernels of the palm fruits are very small compared to the rest of the palm types.
Saif plant: This type is considered an excellent variety, so it can be equated after Barhi with quality, because it is similar to Barhi with good taste and its fruits in all stages (during - wet - dates), but it does not help digestion like Al Barhi ..
Umm al-Dahn: a type that is rare and not available in the rest of the palm. Umm al-Dahn was famous for its moisture to distill molasses even before it was harvested from the date palm, meaning that this type was more famous for its density of molasses than other types of palm.