The glycaemic index of dates and date/yoghurt mixed meals. Are dates ‘the candy that grows on trees’?

Abstract

Objective: To determine the glycaemic index of one variety of date, alone and in mixed meals with plain full-milk yoghurt. Design: An experimental study involving the measurement of the glycaemic responses of participants to the ingestion of dates, alone and with yoghurt Setting: Within the Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University Subjects: Healthy male and female volunteers aged 32 -67 y. Intervention: Glycaemic responses to date and date=yoghurt meal ingestion were plotted for each subject. Glycaemic indexes were calculated as the ratios of the incremental areas under these response curves to those for glucose ingestion. Results are presented using means and standard deviations. Glycaemic indexes were compared using paired t-tests. Results: Mean glycaemic indexes of the dates were 47.2, 45.3, 35.5, 37.3, 28.9 for rutab, traditionally stored, commercial, rutab=yoghurt and commercial tamer=yoghurt preparations, respectively. There was a significant difference between the results for rutab vs commercial tamer dates (P < 0.05), but other comparisons failed to reach statistical significance. Conclusions: Khalas dates, when eaten alone or in mixed meals with plain yoghurt have low glycaemic indexes. The consumption of dates may be of benefit in glycaemic and lipid control of diabetic patients. The consumption of dates in mixed meals with yoghurt appears to have, at most, a minimal effect on the glycaemic index.

Fructose-rich syrup from Ghars cultivar dates (Phoenix dactylifera L.)

“…The content of the dietary fiber was 3.86%; a similar value (2-3%) to that obtained by Miller et al (2003). It is worth noting that the content of the dietary fibers differ among cultivars and changes according to the ripening stage; the Tamar stage has the lowest percentage of dietary fiber (Alkaabi et al 2011).…”

The ameliorative effect of dates (Phoenix dactylifera L.) on ethanol-induced gastric ulcer in rats

“…In local medicinal practices dates are considered a "tonic" and "aphrodisiac", and in some communities they are thought to be useful against ulcer (Rasheed, personal communication). In fact, Muslims believe that "He who eats seven dates every morning will not be affected by poison or magic on the day he eats them" (cited by Miller et al, 2003).…”

Antioxidant-rich date palm fruit extract inhibits oxidative stress and nephrotoxicity induced by dimethoate in rat

“…The antioxidant activity is attributed to the wide range of phenolic compounds in dates, including p-coumaric, ferulic, and sinapic acids, flavonoids, and procyanidins [7,25,43], and also to the presence of vitamin C [8]. Muslims believe that "He who eats seven dates every morning will not be affected by poison or magic on the day he eats them" [47]. Accordingly, we considered undertaking this study to assess the influence of date palm fruit extract on the incidence and severity of dimethoateinduced nephrotoxicity in rats.…”