Dates are natural and they are used in many recipes for sweetness. How healthy is it really to consume e.g., energy bites that contain dates, oats and nuts/seeds, maybe some dark chocolate, every day?
I’m wondering about the sugar content, not calories. I know the sugar in dates is more natural than refined sugars, but should people still eat less than 24 g sugars regardless of the source?
You need to ask yourself the questions
The sugar is the same, whether its from dates or table sugar (since the sugar in dates is also roughly half glucose and half fructose).
The reason people tend to worry less about sugar in fruit is because fruit has fiber, so you (1) cant eat as much sugar and (2) the fiber slows the absorption of sugar into the blood. Not to mention the health benefits of fiber and the fruit’s micronutrients.
So, maybe you’re better off looking at the amount of fiber in these products, rather than whether the sugar comes from dates or not.
As far as sugar content… sugar is sugar. It should list the sugar content on the packaging, and then you can make your judgment that way.
(As an aside, I’m a biologist. I do study nature, but I don’t know what scientific facts “more natural” would correlate with, when you say “the sugar in dates is more natural than refined sugars”. It sounds meaningless, to me, so I would suggest trying to get more specific in your beliefs.)
As far as other compounds in dates, they’re a pretty solid fiber source, even given how sugary they are; one date has 6% of your daily carb intake but also 6% of your daily fiber intake (according to SELF magazine’s nutrition facts database). So by eating them, you’re not filling up your daily carb allowance any faster than you’re filling up your daily fiber allowance, which is good. But obviously don’t eat more total sugar than is healthy.
As far as how healthy your complete diet is, that would depend on what your complete diet is. It would depend on how many date bites you’re eating, and what else you’re eating afterward.
Date flesh is found to be low in fat and protein but rich in sugars, mainly fructose and glucose.
It is a high source of energy, as 100 g of flesh can provide an average of 314 kcal. Ten minerals were reported, the major being selenium, copper, potassium, and magnesium. The consumption of 100 g of dates can provide over 15% of the recommended daily allowance from these minerals.
Vitamins B-complex and C are the major vitamins in dates.
High in dietary fiber (8.0 g/100 g), insoluble dietary fiber was the major fraction of dietary fiber in dates.
Dates are a good source of antioxidants, mainly carotenoids and phenolics.
Date seeds contain higher protein (5.1 g/100 g) and fat (9.0 g/100 g) as compared to the flesh. It is also high in dietary fiber (73.1 g/100 g), phenolics (3942 mg/100 g) and antioxidants (80400 micromol/100 g).