October 13, 2021

Health Benefits of Dates for Women

When it comes to women’s health, the benefits of dates for women come down to a few things you can check: what is in the fruit, what women need at different ages, and what the studies on dates have actually measured. This post goes through those, and drops the bigger promises the earlier version of this post made about cancer, skin, hair and eyesight.

This is general information, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, trying to conceive, have been told you are anaemic, or take medicine, check with your GP, midwife or doctor before you change your diet.

What is in 100 g of dates

USDA FoodData Central gives these amounts per 100 g of Medjool dates and Deglet Noor dates:

Potassium: 696 mg (Medjool), 656 mg (Deglet Noor)
Magnesium: 54 mg and 43 mg
Calcium: 64 mg and 39 mg
Iron: 0.9 mg and 1.02 mg
Fibre: 6.7 g and 8.0 g
Protein: 1.81 g and 2.45 g
Vitamin C: 0.0 mg and 0.4 mg

Set against NHS daily amounts for adults, the potassium is about a fifth of the 3,500 mg adults need, and the magnesium is about a fifth of the 270 mg women aged 19 to 64 need. The calcium is small next to the 700 mg a day adults need, and protein is under 3 g. Vitamin C is close to zero. The NHS says adults need 40 mg of vitamin C a day and lists citrus fruit, peppers and strawberries among good sources, so a ripe date is not where your vitamin C comes from.

The NHS says potassium helps control the balance of fluids in the body and helps the heart muscle work properly, and that calcium helps build bones and keep teeth healthy. Those are the roles of the minerals. No study cited here tested whether eating dates changes bone strength.

Iron, periods and anaemia

Women aged 19 to 49 need 14.8 mg of iron a day, compared with 8.7 mg for men and for women aged 50 and over. The NHS says women who lose a lot of blood during their period are at higher risk of iron deficiency anaemia and may need iron supplements. At about 1 mg per 100 g, dates cover roughly 6 to 7% of a younger woman’s daily iron need.

The NHS list of foods to eat more of for iron deficiency anaemia includes “dried fruit like apricots, prunes and raisins”. Dates are not named on it. The page also says heavy periods and pregnancy are very common causes, and that a GP will recommend treatment once the cause is found.

There is some research on dates and haemoglobin. A 2021 review of 10 articles on pregnant women found that giving dates raised haemoglobin in all but one, and the one exception used date juice. Most of the studies it reviewed were on mild anaemia. A 2025 review of 21 studies on women’s health reports that date fruit intake was associated with better haemoglobin levels in adolescent girls. Neither replaces a blood test and the treatment a GP gives.

Dates in pregnancy

A 2024 meta-analysis of dates eaten around childbirth included 48 studies reported in 55 publications. It found that eating dates in late pregnancy shortened the length of pregnancy and labour (except the second stage), reduced the need for labour induction, “accelerated spontaneity of delivery”, and raised cervical dilatation on admission, the Bishop score and the rate of spontaneous vaginal delivery. Dates eaten during labour shortened labour (except the third stage) and increased cervical dilatation two hours later. After birth, dates increased breast milk quantity and reduced bleeding after delivery, and dates in the third trimester raised mothers’ haemoglobin. There was not enough data to pool outcomes for the baby, and most of those did not differ much between groups. The same authors rated the overall quality of the evidence as unacceptable, found a high risk of bias in most studies, and noted that safety was recorded in only four trials.

Its abstract lists no blood-pressure outcome, so this post makes no claim that the consumption of dates prevents high blood pressure in pregnancy. It also does not change the NHS folic acid advice: 400 micrograms a day for the first 12 weeks, because it is difficult to get enough from food alone. Medjool dates have 15 micrograms of folate per 100 g (USDA). For more on this, see this site’s post on dried dates in pregnancy, and for the weeks after birth, the post on fibre and iron in dates for mums.

Fibre and digestion

The NHS says eating plenty of fibre is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer. Adults should aim for 30 g a day, and most manage about 20 g. The NHS counts foods with 6 g or more of fibre per 100 g as high-fibre, so both Medjool (6.7 g) and Deglet Noor (8.0 g) qualify. That link is about fibre from your whole diet. No study cited here tested dates on their own against bowel cancer, or against breast or prostate cancer.

The same NHS page says dried fruit is sticky and can raise the risk of tooth decay, so it is better eaten as part of a meal than as a between-meal snack.

What the trials found on cholesterol

An older version of this post said dates were “proven” to lower bad cholesterol. The trials are smaller and more mixed than that. In a 2009 pilot study, 10 healthy adults ate 100 g a day of Medjool or Hallawi dates for 4 weeks. Their total, LDL and HDL cholesterol did not change significantly, while triglycerides fell by 8% (Medjool) and 15% (Hallawi). In a 2020 randomised trial, 100 adults with type 2 diabetes, 61 of them women, either ate three dates a day for 16 weeks or avoided dates. Total cholesterol fell by 0.209 mmol/L in the date group. LDL fell by 0.171 mmol/L, but its 95% confidence interval (−0.358 to 0.016) crosses zero. HbA1c did not change.

The study the old text named, a 2014 review by Rahmani and colleagues, summarises antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour and anti-diabetic effects of date constituents. It is a review, and its abstract does not mention cholesterol.

How many dates

There is no official number of dates for women. The NHS counts a 30 g portion of dried fruit, dates included, as one of your 5 A Day, eaten at mealtimes rather than as a snack between meals. At 277 kcal per 100 g of Medjool dates, 30 g is about 83 kcal, and most of it is sugar (66.5 g of sugars per 100 g). Weigh 30 g once with the dates you buy, so you know what a portion looks like.

Taken together, dates give women a useful amount of fibre and potassium, a little iron and calcium, and almost no vitamin C. The pregnancy studies are many but low in quality, and the two cholesterol trials above are small. Count them as one fruit in a varied diet.

References

USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, 2019). Dates, medjool (168191); Dates, deglet noor (171726).
Salajegheh Z, et al. Is oral consumption of dates (Phoenix dactylifera L. fruit) in the peripartum period effective and safe integrative care to facilitate childbirth and improve perinatal outcomes. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2024;24(1):12. PMID 38166785
Saputri RD, et al. Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) consumption as a nutrition source for mild anemia. Gac Sanit. 2021;35 Suppl 2:S271-S274. PMID 34929829
Shirdel E, et al. Improving female health at various life stages: a systematic review of the impact of date fruit products. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2025;25(1):38-49. PMID 40641695
Rock W, et al. Effects of date (Phoenix dactylifera L., Medjool or Hallawi variety) consumption by healthy subjects on serum glucose and lipid levels and on serum oxidative status: a pilot study. J Agric Food Chem. 2009;57(17):8010-7. PMID 19681613
Alalwan TA, et al. Effects of daily low-dose date consumption on glycemic control, lipid profile, and quality of life in adults with pre- and type 2 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial. Nutrients. 2020;12(1):217. PMID 31952131
Rahmani AH, et al. Therapeutic effects of date fruits (Phoenix dactylifera) in the prevention of diseases via modulation of anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-tumour activity. Int J Clin Exp Med. 2014;7(3):483-91. PMID 24753740
NHS. Iron; Calcium; Vitamin C; Others (potassium, magnesium).
NHS. Iron deficiency anaemia.
NHS. Vitamins and supplements in pregnancy.
NHS. How to get more fibre into your diet.
NHS. 5 A Day: what counts?