Nutritional Security of Date Palm Fruit: An Empirical Analysis for Al-Ahsa Region in Saudi Arabia

(Muneera Qassim Al-Mssallem, Nagat Ahmed Elmulthum, and Raga Mohamed Elzaki)

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Abstract

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is consumed since the ancient era in the Arab region, particularly in Saudi Arabia. This study aims to assess the consumption of dates, its association with obesity in addition to estimate the nutrient indices of consumed dates among Saudi population in Al Ahsa region. Household Saudi males and females (n=477) were involved in this study. They were classified into three groups; children (n=46), Adolescents (n=72) and Adults (n=359). Data on anthropometric measurements, socioeconomic factors, and consumption of dates were collected from the respondents. Some nutrients of dates were analyzed to calculate the indices of energy, carbohydrates, nonstarch polysaccharides (NSPs) in addition to determine some minerals and vitamin contents. The obtained results indicated that adolescents followed by adults consumed the highest amount of dates. The results also revealed that the consumed dates could secure about fourth of the recommended daily requirement of potassium and the fifth of both magnesium and NSPs. Moreover, the study found that obese persons dates consumption was the highest in comparison to underweight and normal weigh respondents (p<0.05), however; the correlation between dates consumption and body mass index (BMI) was low. The study confirmed the importance of daily consumption of dates in securing some minerals and indicated that dates consumption is not responsible for weight gaining. Key Words: Anthropometric measurements, Body mass index, Date palm consumption, Nutrient index
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