Dates are a unique product! Date palms are known to mankind and cultivated by people for many thousands of years! Dates are mentioned in the oldest books – the Bible and the Koran. Scientists know for sure that date trees were cultivated over 6,000 years ago. Moreover, already then people carried out the selection of these trees! In ancient times, it was believed that where such palm trees grow, there can be no hunger! And this is understandable! Such plants can bear fruit for many decades. And these fruits, dates, have a unique energy value and a large set of trace elements! Potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus – this is far from the complete composition of the beneficial substances of date palm fruits. In addition, dates contain vitamins A, K, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9. It has long been established that dates are effective in improving the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, help to cope with cardiovascular diseases, and even out blood pressure. And more recently, scientists managed to establish that dates can successfully fight cancer!
Staff of the Inna Foundation are constantly studying new achievements in science and sharing their knowledge with their readers. After all, as you know, knowledge is power! And cancer prevention is something we can do to protect ourselves. On our website in the section Desire to live you can learn a lot of useful things. Perhaps such information will help to escape from the most dangerous and deadly disease – cancer!
We have carefully studied scientific articles in which scientists report on the important properties of dates and their ability to resist cancer.
A group of Malaysian scientists from the University of Cyberjaya, the University of Science Islam Malaysia and the UKM Medical Center on the pages of the specialized portal Frontiers (one of the world’s largest providers of open scientific information) published the results of a study of the antioxidant and anti-cancer effects of Mejul dates, which are called royal due to their large size, on human breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF-7) in vitro, that is, outside a living organism.
The scientists made various concentrations of methanolic extracts of Mejul dates, which were then treated with breast cancer cells. Untreated breast cancer cells (negative case) and cancer cells treated with doxorubicin (positive case) were used to monitor the progress of the experiment. Doxorubicin is a chemotherapy drug that slows down or stops cell growth. As a result of the study, it was found that date extract of a certain concentration showed inhibitory properties similar to doxorubicin – cancer cells treated with it died! Thus, scientists have proved that date extract has significant antioxidant properties and antitumor activity against MCF-7 cells.
At the same time, experts from the King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia) studied the anti-cancer properties of Ajwa dates. To do this, they made an aqueous extract of dates of this variety and conducted an experiment with liver cancer cells in vivo, that is, on living organisms. A report on the study was posted on the pages of the BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine portal.
To evaluate the effect of Ajwa date extract, laboratory rats artificially infected with liver cancer were used. The animals were divided into several groups – two of which were controls, and rats from the other two were exposed to the extract of different concentrations. Rats from all groups were assessed for the progression or inhibition of the course of the disease. According to the results of the observation, experts have established that Ajwa date extract improves the functioning of the liver, up to its complete recovery, and suppresses liver cancer cells.
Thus, scientists believe that dates can be used to prevent and even treat breast and liver cancer. In addition, dates are effective in fighting colon cancer. You just need to understand that the number of fruits eaten per day should not exceed 8-10 pieces, since the insulin index of dates is very high!
These are the properties that are so important for mankind has, seemingly, well-known product – dates!
