{"id":3537,"date":"2023-05-11T01:04:08","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T18:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/are-dates-good-for-colon-health\/"},"modified":"2023-05-11T01:04:08","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T18:04:08","slug":"are-dates-good-for-colon-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=3537","title":{"rendered":"Are Dates Good for Colon Health?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Seven dates a day for three weeks are put to the test in a randomized controlled trial. (I\u2019m talking about the fruit, not a planned get together.)<\/p>\n<p>Dates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/Dates-Production-Processing-Food-and-Medicinal-Values\/Manickavasagan-Essa-Sukumar\/p\/book\/9781439849453\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">are<\/a> one of the healthiest sweeteners. I use them when I cook and bake, and you\u2019ll find them as key ingredients in <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/book\/how-not-to-die-cookbook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The How Not to Die Cookbook<\/em><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/book\/how-not-to-diet-cookbook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The How Not to Diet Cookbook<\/em><\/a>. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/Dates-Production-Processing-Food-and-Medicinal-Values\/Manickavasagan-Essa-Sukumar\/p\/book\/9781439849453\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blend<\/a> them with water to make date syrup or use date sugar, which is a whole food\u2014just dried dates ground into powder. As such, it is packed with nutrition and has as much antioxidant power as blackstrap molasses, as you can see in the graph below and at 0:24 in my video <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/flashback-friday-benefit-of-dates-for-colon-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Flashback Friday: Benefit of Dates for Colon Health<\/a><\/strong>, but without the strong taste. (Not all brands <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/19103324\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">are<\/a> the same, though. For example, as you can also see below and at 0:31 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/flashback-friday-benefit-of-dates-for-colon-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>, Bob\u2019s Red Mill may <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/19103324\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">have<\/a> twice the antioxidants compared with NOW Foods\u2019 date sugar, though researchers tested only one package each.) So, dates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/Dates-Production-Processing-Food-and-Medicinal-Values\/Manickavasagan-Essa-Sukumar\/p\/book\/9781439849453\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">are<\/a> healthy compared with other sweeteners, but that\u2019s not saying much. Do dates have any special medicinal properties?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-92324\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-24.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-24.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-24-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-24-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-24-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-24-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-24-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-24-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-24-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-24-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-92320\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-31.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-31.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-31-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-31-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-31-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-31-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-31-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-31-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-31-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-31-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>There are papers in the medical literature <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/24753740\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">touting<\/a> the \u201ctherapeutic effects of date fruits\u2026in the prevention of diseases via modulation of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-tumor activity\u201d and discussing \u201cpharmacological activities of dates fruits in diseases control.\u201d You can see a figure below and at 0:57 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/flashback-friday-benefit-of-dates-for-colon-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a> to illustrate this. But, what they don\u2019t say is that some of this may be based on studies in which dates were fed to rats before they were then\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/28250657\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">subjected<\/a> to testicular ischemia by twisting their left testicle 720 degrees clockwise\u2014two full rotations\u2014to completely kink off the blood supply. Did the dates help? Who cares if the dates helped?! We\u2019re talking about rat testicles. What relevance does <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/24579785\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">testing<\/a> the nut-on-nut effects of pecans on rat testes have?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-92322\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-57.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-57.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-57-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-57-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-57-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-57-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-57-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-57-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-57-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-57-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Ironically, perhaps the strangest assertion is that dates <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/24753740\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">help<\/a> with labor and delivery, which is actually supported by randomized and double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, as I covered in my video <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/friday-favorites-best-food-for-late-pregnancy-labor-and-delivery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Friday Favorites: Best Food for Late Pregnancy, Labor, and Deliver<\/strong><\/a>. So, let\u2019s keep an open mind here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What about the purported anti-cancer effects? Researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26101614\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">studied<\/a> the impact of dates on our good gut flora and colon cancer cell proliferation. Our gut harbors about 10,000 billion micro-organisms and \u201cis considered the most metabolically active site in the human body.\u201d All sorts of crazy things are happening down there, and we can reward our good gut flora by feeding them prebiotics, such as dietary fiber and polyphenols, a class of antioxidant phytonutrients. Dates have high levels of both. Researchers blended some dates with some gut flora\u2014fecal slurries donated by volunteers. (Have you heard of green smoothies? This is more like a brown smoothie.) What happened? Both the whole date extract and just the date polyphenols were \u201cable to significantly increase the growth of beneficial bacteria.\u201d They also assessed the ability of mixtures to inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells in a petri dish. As you can see in the graph below and at 2:51 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/flashback-friday-benefit-of-dates-for-colon-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>, even just the polyphenol extract <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26101614\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cut<\/a> cancer cell growth by more than half and the whole date extract nearly blocked cancer cell growth completely. \u201cTogether these data suggest that consumption of date fruits may enhance colon health by increasing beneficial bacterial growth and inhibiting the proliferation of colon cancer cells.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-92327\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2-51.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2-51.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2-51-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2-51-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2-51-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2-51-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2-51-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2-51-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2-51-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2-51-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>It would have been nice if researchers had actually studied the effects of dates in the actual colon, but there had never been such a study\u2014until recently. A randomized, controlled, cross-over, human interventional study <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26428278\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">looked<\/a> at the impact of date consumption on gut flora growth and large intestinal health. Volunteers were randomized to either a control group or seven dates a day for three weeks, and researchers found \u201cthere were significant increases in bowel movements and stool frequency,\u201d which was not surprising since the study participants in the date group were eating additional fiber. But, they also found \u201csignificant reductions in stool ammonia concentration\u2026after consumption of dates, relative to baseline.\u201d (My video <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/stool-ph-and-colon-cancer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Stool pH and Colon Cancer<\/strong><\/a> explains why that\u2019s important.) \u201cFurthermore, date fruit intake significantly reduced genotoxicity in human fecal water,\u201d or human stool tea. A water extract of feces from someone eating seven dates a day causes significantly less genotoxicity, meaning significantly less DNA damage, which is good because that\u2019s what\u2019s coating the inside of our colon on a daily basis.<\/p>\n<p>As you can see below and at 4:17 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/flashback-friday-benefit-of-dates-for-colon-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>, dozens of different date varieties have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1658077X15000442\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pitted<\/a> (no pun intended) against a variety of cancer cells in vitro\u2014not just colon cancer and stomach cancer, which the dates might actually come in contact with, but also prostate, lung, and breast cancers. Of course, we\u2019d first have to show that the active components are actually absorbed into the bloodstream and end up in those organs.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-92329\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-17-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Here are some of my favorite recipes using dates: <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/recipe\/date-syrup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Date Syrup<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/recipe\/balsamic-date-glaze\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Balsamic Date Glaze<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_social_bottom_trigger\"\/>  <\/div>\n<p><script>\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n            if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n            n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n            t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n            s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '1582627921973608');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1675549\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven dates a day for three weeks are put to the test in a randomized controlled trial. (I\u2019m talking about the fruit, not a planned get together.) Dates are one of the healthiest sweeteners. I use them when I cook and bake, and you\u2019ll find them as key ingredients in The How Not to Die &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}