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The glycaemic index of dates and date/yoghurt mixed meals. Are dates ‘the candy that grows on trees’?

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 57, pages 427–430 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To determine the glycaemic index of one variety of date, alone and in mixed meals with plain full-milk yoghurt.

Design: An experimental study involving the measurement of the glycaemic responses of participants to the ingestion of dates, alone and with yoghurt

Setting: Within the Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University

Subjects: Healthy male and female volunteers aged 32–67 y.

Interventions: Glycaemic responses to date and date/yoghurt meal ingestion were plotted for each subject. Glycaemic indexes were calculated as the ratios of the incremental areas under these response curves to those for glucose ingestion. Results are presented using means and standard deviations. Glycaemic indexes were compared using paired t-tests.

Results: Mean glycaemic indexes of the dates were 47.2, 45.3, 35.5, 37.3, 28.9 for rutab, traditionally stored, commercial, rutab/yoghurt and commercial tamer/yoghurt preparations, respectively. There was a significant difference between the results for rutab vs commercial tamer dates (P<0.05), but other comparisons failed to reach statistical significance.

Conclusions: Khalas dates, when eaten alone or in mixed meals with plain yoghurt have low glycaemic indexes. The consumption of dates may be of benefit in glycaemic and lipid control of diabetic patients. The consumption of dates in mixed meals with yoghurt appears to have, at most, a minimal effect on the glycaemic index.

Sponsorship: This study was not financed by any grant or institution.

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Acknowledgements

Professor T Wolever, University of Toronto, is thanked for the Excel glycaemic index calculator, Al Ain date factory for the donation of the dates, Modern Pharmaceutical Company for the donation of glucose testing strips, Central Laboratories Unit, UAE University and Food Environment Control Centre, Abu Dhabi Municipality for analyses of the dates and yoghurt, John Cherian, the technician, who performed the capillary blood tests on the subjects, and, most importantly, the subjects themselves who endured numerous fasts and blood glucose tests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

    C J Miller & E V Dunn

  2. Department of Food Sciences, Faculty of Food Systems, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

    I B Hashim

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  1. C J Miller
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  2. E V Dunn
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  3. I B Hashim
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Guarantor: CJ Miller.

Contributors: CJ Miller led the research project and was involved in all aspects from conception to writing the article. EVD was involved in study design, data analysis, and writing of the article. IBH coordinated all laboratory analysis and was involved in finalizing the writing of the article.

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Correspondence to C J Miller.

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Miller, C., Dunn, E. & Hashim, I. The glycaemic index of dates and date/yoghurt mixed meals. Are dates ‘the candy that grows on trees’?. Eur J Clin Nutr 57, 427–430 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601565

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