The dates juice on this page is made by blending soaked dates with milk or water. An earlier version of this article listed benefits for skin, hair and general health, from glowing skin and less suntan to more platelets and no need for vitamin supplements. This update checks those claims against nutrient data and published research, and keeps only what the sources support.
This is general information, not medical advice. If you have a health condition, ask your doctor before making a daily drink part of your diet.
What goes into a glass
The nutrients in the juice come from the dates, plus the milk if you use it. USDA FoodData Central gives one pitted Medjool date as 24 g. Per 100 g, Medjool dates contain 66.5 g of total sugars, 696 mg of potassium, 64 mg of calcium, 54 mg of magnesium, 62 mg of phosphorus, 0.9 mg of iron, 0.44 mg of zinc and 15 µg of folate (FDC 168191). That sugar content is why the juice tastes so sweet.
So a glass made with three Medjool dates (72 g) carries about 48 g of sugars, 501 mg of potassium, 46 mg of calcium and 0.65 mg of iron from the dates. Vitamins B1, B2 and B3 are present too, at 0.05 mg, 0.06 mg and 1.61 mg per 100 g.
Two nutrients from the old list are missing. The same record gives Medjool dates 0.0 mg of vitamin C and 0.0 of vitamin D, and Deglet Noor dates have 0.4 mg of vitamin C and 0.0 of vitamin D per 100 g (FDC 171726). The NHS says adults aged 19 to 64 need 40 mg of vitamin C a day and names citrus fruit, peppers, strawberries and broccoli among good sources (NHS, Vitamin C). For vitamin D, its food list is oily fish, red meat, egg yolks, fortified foods and liver (NHS, Vitamin D). Dates are on neither list.
Sugar is the main thing to watch
Whole dates and blended dates are not counted the same way. The NHS says sugar in fruit is not counted as free sugar unless the fruit is juiced or puréed, that adults should have no more than 30 g of free sugars a day, and that even unsweetened fruit juices and smoothies should be limited to no more than 150 ml a day (NHS, Sugar: the facts). The 48 g of sugars in a three-date glass is more than that 30 g limit on its own.
The old article said people with diabetes should avoid the juice and set a half-cup daily amount for people with prediabetes. We found no source for those amounts and have removed them. If you have diabetes or prediabetes, ask your doctor or diabetes team how a sweet drink like this fits your plan.
Iron, anaemia and bones
The NHS says men aged 19 and over need 8.7 mg of iron a day, and women aged 19 to 49 need 14.8 mg (NHS, Iron). The 0.65 mg in a three-date glass is a small part of that. For people with iron deficiency anaemia, the NHS eat-more list includes dried fruit like apricots, prunes and raisins, but does not name dates (NHS, Iron deficiency anaemia).
One review included a test of the juice itself. A 2021 review of 10 studies in pregnant women reported that giving dates raised haemoglobin in all but one study, and that one study used date juice and found no effect on haemoglobin. Most of the studies it reviewed were about mild anaemia (Saputri et al., 2021).
For bones, the NHS says adults need 700 mg of calcium a day and lists milk, cheese and other dairy foods first among its sources (NHS, Calcium). In a glass made with milk, the milk adds calcium on top of the 46 mg from three dates.
The skin and hair claims
The old article said the juice improves skin elasticity, reduces signs of ageing, raises platelets and controls melanin to prevent suntan. We searched PubMed for date fruit, date juice or date syrup together with skin, hair, melanin, wrinkles or elasticity, limited to human studies. The search returned 10 records. None of them tested eating or drinking dates for skin or hair. Most are allergy studies, where “skin” refers to skin-prick tests. A search for date fruit and platelets in humans returned one record, a review of Ajwa research rather than a trial.
The NHS does say that vitamin C helps maintain healthy skin. As the figures above show, dates provide almost none of it, so that link does not carry over to the juice. Claims about the benefits of dates juice for skin and hair are not backed by any study we could find.
Allergy
Dates can cause allergy in some people. In a study from Riyadh, extracts from eight date cultivars were used in skin-prick tests on people with allergies, and about 13% reacted to at least two extracts. The authors concluded that date fruit is a potent allergen (Kwaasi et al., 1999).
Drinking it sensibly
Treat dates juice as a sweet drink rather than a supplement. The NHS advice for fruit juice and smoothies is a maximum of 150 ml, a small glass, in total per day, drunk with meals to reduce the risk of tooth decay. Whole dates eaten as they are do not count towards the free-sugar total. For questions about our dates, use the contact page.
References
- USDA FoodData Central. Dates, medjool (SR Legacy, FDC 168191, updated 2019). fdc.nal.usda.gov
- USDA FoodData Central. Dates, deglet noor (SR Legacy, FDC 171726, updated 2019). fdc.nal.usda.gov
- NHS. Sugar: the facts.
- NHS. Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Iron and Calcium.
- NHS. Iron deficiency anaemia.
- 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
- Kwaasi AA, et al. Allergy to date fruits: characterization of antigens and allergens of fruits of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.). Allergy. 1999;54(12):1270-7. PMID 10688430