Date syrup is said to be a functional food. Coming from dates, it may just be a great alternative to sugar. Let’s find out more about this interesting syrup.
What is date syrup?
Date syrup, also referred to as date honey or date molasses, is a staple in many Middle Eastern and Northern African countries. Typcally, date syrup is made from Medjool or Deglet Nour dates.
Are there any health benefits?
When researching databases, I couldn’t find a plethora of studies done specifically with date syrup, but I did find a few. More of the studies had date syrup as a consumed example, where the research wasn’t focused on it specifically.
Anti-inflammatory
Dates have polyphenols, which have been studied for their effect on managing and even preventing certain illness, likes cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (1). One study looked at date syrup, and found that at polyphenol levels of 60 micrograms per mL and 600 micrograms per mL displayed anti-inflammatory effects in endothelial cells* (2). 100g of dates have 1500mg of polyphenols by weight (4), which is roughly 4 dates. While date syrup has roughly 605mg of polyphenols per 100g (5). For reference, one tablespoon of date syrup and about 12g.
* “Endothelial cells form a single cell layer that lines all blood vessels and regulates exchanges between the bloodstream and the surrounding tissues. Signals from endothelial cells organize the growth and development of connective tissue cells that form the surrounding layers of the blood-vessel wall” Alberts et al, 2022 (3).
Radioprotective
Another study found that rats subjected to whole body radiation who received date syrup via stomach intubation had improved lipid profiles and liver function, and protected against much of the destructive effect that radiation has on DNA (6). It is worth noting that the rats were intaking 4mL/kg of body weight for four weeks. So for a women who weighs 130 lbs (59kg), that would equal 236mL of date syrup daily (which is almost 16 tablespoons a day – whoa!).
Nutritional make-up
In a 40g serving of dates, there is 27g of sugar per the USDA food database.
Date syrup 20g
Calories: 61 kcal
Protein: 0 g
Carbohydrates: 15 g
Fat: 0 g
Fibre: 1 g
Sugar: 14 g
Calcium: 15 mg
Iron: 0.2 mg
Potassium: 167 mg
Sodium: 0 mg
Obtained from the USDA food database
It is worth noting that each brand of date syrup had different values, with some noting absolutely no vitamins/minerals per serving.
Are there any health concerns?
While I didn’t find any date syrup specific detriments to consumption, my concern is with the amount of sugar in date syrup. In the studies listed above, large amounts of date syrup were used to see beneficial effects.
Consistent data and research has shown that sugar consumption can lead to chronic low grade inflammation, which can put you at risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and depression (7, 8, 9, 10). In a meta analysis researching the effect of dietary sugar intake on inflammatory markers found no difference between fructose (and high fructose corn syrup) vs sucrose and glucose intake (11). this supports the theory that sugar is sugar is sugar.
How can I use date syrup?
Date syrup can be used in place of maple syrup, honey, agave, or other liquid sweetener. I like to use it in my smoothies! It is fairly thick (not as thick as molasses, but thicker than maple syrup), and has a rich taste, similar to molasses but definitely sweeter like their parents whole dates!
Bottom Line
Date syrup may offer more vitamins/minerals/antioxidants than regular sugar. Though in order to obtain any substantial health benefit, you would have to consume a lot of date syrup, which would in turn mean you would be consuming lots of sugar.
It can be used in place of other liquid sweeteners.
References:
(1) Cory, Hannah, et al. “The role of polyphenols in human health and food systems: A mini-review.” Frontiers in nutrition 5 (2018): 87.
(2) Taleb, Hajer, et al. “Date syrup–derived polyphenols attenuate angiogenic responses and exhibits anti-inflammatory activity mediated by vascular endothelial growth factor and cyclooxygenase-2 expression in endothelial cells.” Nutrition Research 36.7 (2016): 636-647.
(3) Alberts, Bruce, et al. “Blood vessels and endothelial cells.” Molecular Biology of the Cell. 4th edition. Garland Science, 2002.
(4) Eid, Noura, et al. “The impact of date palm fruits and their component polyphenols, on gut microbial ecology, bacterial metabolites and colon cancer cell proliferation.” Journal of nutritional science 3 (2014).
(5) Taleb, Hajer, et al. “The antibacterial activity of date syrup polyphenols against S. aureus and E. coli.” Frontiers in microbiology 7 (2016): 198.
(6) Abou-Zeid, Shimaa M., et al. “Radioprotective effect of date syrup on radiation-induced damage in rats.” Scientific reports 8.1 (2018): 1-10.
(7) Donath, Marc Y., and Steven E. Shoelson. “Type 2 diabetes as an inflammatory disease.” Nature reviews immunology 11.2 (2011): 98-107.
(8) Xu, Gelin, et al. “Plasma C-reactive protein is related to cognitive deterioration and dementia in patients with mild cognitive impairment.” Journal of the neurological sciences 284.1 (2009): 77-80.
(9) Howren, M. Bryant, Donald M. Lamkin, and Jerry Suls. “Associations of depression with C-reactive protein, IL-1, and IL-6: a meta-analysis.” Psychosomatic medicine 71.2 (2009): 171-186.
(10) Hotamisligil, Gökhan S. “Inflammation and metabolic disorders.” Nature 444.7121 (2006): 860-867.
(11) Della Corte, Karen W., et al. “Effect of dietary sugar intake on biomarkers of subclinical inflammation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies.” Nutrients 10.5 (2018): 606.
