Table 2.
Reported benefits of the date palm and its mechanisms.
| Reported Benefits | Mechanism and detail | References |
|---|---|---|
| Fertility Enhancement | Results of a rat study show that during copulation, dopamine releases and facilitates genital reflexes, sexual motivation, and motor performance. Dopamine has been known to aid sexual function in males. The presence of certain substances in date palms like α-amirin, estrone, estradiol, estriol, triterpenoidal saponins, and flavonoids explains the aiding part of the fruit on sexual functions by elevating the discharge of dopamine in the hypothalamus. | (Abedi et al., 2014) |
| Beneficial phytochemical content | The date fruit is rich in active compounds like phytochemicals such as tannins, carotenoids, polyphenols (e.g., phenolic acids, isoflavones, lignans, and flavonoids), and sterols. | (Martín-Sánchez et al., 2014) |
| Protection against diseases | Studies conducted on extracts of date palm either pure aqueous or mixed with organic solvent found that it has many important constituents that have health benefits like oxidative stress activity, prevention of coronary heart disease and cancer, free radical scavenging activity, liver protection and anti-inflammatory activities. | (Al-Alawi et al., 2017) |
| Against Alzheimer’s Disease | A rat study suggests that supplementing the diet with date fruits may help with delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease as well as reducing the risk of slowing down the progress of this disease. | (Subash et al., 2015) |
| Gut health | Data suggests that consuming date fruits can modify colon health by preventing the spread of cancer cells in the colon and by increasing the growth of beneficial bacteria. | (Guardiola et al., 2016) |
| The laxative property of P. dactylifera fruit has been verified by checking its effect on gastrointestinal transit time in mice. Results showed that the mice that received date fruit extract emptied more of their GIT content due to high fibers. | (Sani et al., 2015) | |
| Source of minerals | Consuming 100 g of dates bring about 15% of recommended daily allowance of various important minerals, including copper, iron, calcium, magnesium and potassium. Dates also contain generous amounts of vitamin B2 and B3 and total phenolic contents | (Nadeem et al., 2019) |
| Anti-hyperlipidemia and hepatoprotective activity | A study conducted on hyperlipidemia-induced albino rats shows positive results in preventing hyperlipidemia and fatty changes in the liver of rats. This consider able antihyperlipidemic activity may be due to flavonoids and polyphenols' presence in dates. | (Ahmed et al., 2016) |
| Defense against oxidative damage | Date fruit has great reducing power, free radical scavenging activity and antioxidant activity the antioxidant potential was attributed to phytoconstituents (flavonoids, saponins, tannins, steroids) and vitamin C. | (Sani et al., 2015) |
| Liver protection | A study was done on rats where they were fed with aqueous extracts of P. dactylifera. Results showed a reduction of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced a rise in plasma enzyme and bilirubin concentration and reduced liver damage. | (Sani et al., 2015) |
| Anticancer or anti-tumor properties | Invitro's study shows that the presence of phenolic cancer prohibition factors (such as flavonoids, sinapic acid, ferulic scan and procyanidins) explains this property. These phenolic compounds have antioxidant properties and act as cancer chemopreventive compounds, thus obstructing carcinogenesis at the initial stages. | (Hamed et al., 2017) |
| Protection against kidney damage | Results of a study where rats were fed with extract of P. dactylifera fruit. Decreased levels of plasma concentrations of creatinine and urea were observed. And it could reduce the gentamicin-induced damage to the proximal tubular areas of the rat kidneys. | (Sani et al., 2015) |
Fructose from date plant reduces glycaemia after eating, as it gets discharged into the blood in a small amount to reasonable concentration in healthy as well as hyperglycemic individuals (Younas et al., 2020). Date fruit and its seed have medicinal and nutritional value. The date is rich in phytochemicals such as phenolic compounds. Experimental trials using dates have indicated effective results against many cancers (Maqsood et al., 2020).