Health Benefits Of Dates

Improve Cognitive Function

Dates may help improve cognitive function, for their anti-inflammatory properties may help defend the brain from Alzheimer’s disease. In 2016, the science journal Neural Regeneration Research described an experiment in which researchers fed dates to some mice for fifteen months. They found the mice that had been fed dates showed less oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain. They were also less likely to develop the plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

A year earlier, the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine described a study in which researchers worked with two groups of mice over fourteen months. They fed one group a diet that included dates, while the other group got the standard mouse feed. The scientists had the mice run a series of mazes and perform a variety of tests at both the beginning and the end of the study. They found the mice given the conventional diet were more anxious, had poorer memories, and had more trouble learning than the mice that had received dates.

While other studies involving animals have gotten similar promising results, researchers will need to perform similar tests on human volunteers to prove dates’ efficacy in protecting the brain from Alzheimer’s disease and, possibly, other degenerative diseases of the nervous system.

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A Natural Sugar Substitute

Dates are sweet with a flavor reminiscent of caramel. They also contain a lot of fructose, a sugar often found in fruit, can thus be used as a natural sugar substitute. Dates can be used as a replacement for white sugar in many recipes. Individuals who want to use dates as a sweetener when cooking or baking make it into a paste first. The simplest way to do so is to pit the dates, add them to water, and then pour everything into blender or food processor and switch it on. Individuals who don’t have a blender or food processor will have to let their dates soak overnight to soften them. Some will add vanilla or salt for flavor. When refrigerated, date paste keeps for about six months.

Individuals generally use a 1:1 ratio when using date paste. This means if a recipe calls for a single cup of white sugar, they should replace it with a single cup of date paste.

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