Date fruit: chemical composition, nutritional and medicinal values, products

Date fruit has served as a staple food in the Arab world for centuries. Worldwide production of date fruit has increased almost threefold over the last 40 years, reaching 7.68 million tons in 2010. Date fruit can provide many essential nutrients and potential health benefits to the consumer. Date fr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of the science of food and agriculture Vol. 93; no. 10; pp. 2351 - 2361
Main Authors Tang, Zhen-Xing, Shi, Lu-E, Aleid, Salah M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 15.08.2013
John Wiley and Sons, Limited
Subjects
Agricultural production
Arecaceae - chemistry
Byproducts
Chemical composition
Cultivars
date
Diet
Enzymes
Food
Food science
Foods
Fruit - chemistry
Fruits
Functional foods & nutraceuticals
Humans
medicinal activities
Nutrition
nutritional values
Nutritive Value
Phytotherapy
Plant Preparations - pharmacology
Plant Preparations - therapeutic use
Ripening
Staples
Vitamins
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Summary:Date fruit has served as a staple food in the Arab world for centuries. Worldwide production of date fruit has increased almost threefold over the last 40 years, reaching 7.68 million tons in 2010. Date fruit can provide many essential nutrients and potential health benefits to the consumer. Date fruit goes through four ripening stages named kimri, khalal, rutab and tamer. The main chemical components of date fruit include carbohydrates, dietary fibre, enzymes, protein, fat, minerals, vitamins, phenolic acids and carotenoids. The chemical composition of date fruit varies according to ripening stage, cultivar, growing environment, postharvest conditions, etc. The nutritional and medicinal activities of date fruit are related to its chemical composition. Many studies have shown that date fruit has antioxidant, antimutagenic, anti‐inflammatory, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, anticancer and immunostimulant activities. Various date fruit‐based products such as date syrup, date paste, date juice and their derived products are available. Date by‐products can be used as raw materials for the production of value‐added products such as organic acids, exopolysaccharides, antibiotics, date‐flavoured probiotic‐fermented dairy produce, bakery yeasts, etc. In this paper the chemical composition and nutritional and medicinal values of date fruit as well as date fruit‐based products are reviewed. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry
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ISSN:0022-5142
1097-0010
DOI:10.1002/jsfa.6154