Beneath is an approximation of this video’s audio content material. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, photographs, and quotes to which Dr. Greger could also be referring, watch the above video.
Dates are one of many healthiest sweeteners. That’s what we use in The How To not Die Cookbook. You’ll be able to mix them with water to make date syrup or use date sugar, which is a complete meals—simply dried dates floor into powder—and as such is filled with vitamin, ending up with as a lot antioxidant energy as blackstrap molasses, however with out the robust style—although not all manufacturers are the identical. For instance, Bob’s Pink Mill could have twice the antioxidants in comparison with NOW Meals, although they solely examined one package deal every. Okay, so dates are wholesome in comparison with different sweeteners, however that’s not saying a lot. Do dates have any particular medicinal properties?
You’ll see papers like this within the medical literature, touting the “Therapeutic results of date fruits within the prevention of illnesses…anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-tumour exercise,” full with figures like this of the purported “pharmacological actions of dates fruits in illness management.” However what they don’t say is a few of this can be based mostly on research like this, the place they feed dates to rats. That sounds good, however then induce testicular ischemia, by twisting their left testicle clockwise 720 levels, so like two full rotations, to fully kink off the blood provide. So, did the dates assist? Who cares if the dates helped? We’re speaking about rat testicles! It’s like when researchers check the nut-on-nut results of pecans. What relevance does which have?
Although sarcastically, maybe the strangest assertion right here, that dates assist with labor and supply, is definitely supported by randomized and double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, as I’ve lined earlier than; so, let’s maintain an open thoughts right here. What in regards to the purported anti-cancer results?
Researchers studied the affect of dates on our good intestine flora and “colon most cancers cell proliferation.” Our intestine harbors about 10,000 billion micro-organisms and “is taken into account essentially the most metabolically energetic website within the human physique.” All kinds of loopy stuff is occurring down there. And we will reward our good intestine flora by feeding them prebiotics, like dietary fiber, and polyphenols, a category of antioxidant phytonutrients. And dates have “excessive ranges of each.”
Okay, so let’s mix up some dates with some intestine flora, “faecal slurries” donated by volunteers. You’ve heard of inexperienced smoothies? That is extra like a brown smoothie. Effectively, what occurred? Each the entire date extract and simply the date polyphenols had been “capable of considerably improve the expansion of useful micro organism,” after which additionally they assessed the flexibility of mixtures to inhibit the expansion of colon most cancers cells in a petri dish. Even simply the polyphenol fraction minimize most cancers cell development by greater than half, and the entire date extract almost blocked most cancers cell development fully. “Collectively these information counsel that consumption of date fruits could improve colon well being by rising useful bacterial development and inhibiting the proliferation of colon most cancers cells.”
It will have been good if that they had truly studied the results of dates within the precise colon, however there had by no means been such a research… till now. The “[i]mpact of…date consumption on [gut flora] development and enormous intestinal well being: a randomised, managed, cross-over, human intervention research.” Volunteers had been randomized to both a management group or seven dates a day for 3 weeks, and… “there have been important will increase in bowel motion…frequency,” not stunning consuming the extra fiber, but additionally “important reductions in stool ammonia focus…after consumption of dates.” I’ve a video on why that’s vital.
“Moreover, date consumption considerably decreased genotoxicity in human faecal water.” What the heck is that? That’s like human stool tea. A water extract of feces from somebody consuming seven dates a day causes considerably much less genotoxicity, that means is considerably much less DNA-damaging, which is sweet, since that’s what’s coating the within of our colon every day.
Dozens of various date varieties have been pitted—no pun supposed—towards quite a lot of most cancers cells in vitro. Not simply colon most cancers and abdomen most cancers, which the dates may truly are available contact with, but additionally prostate most cancers cells, lung, and breast most cancers cells. However, in fact, we’d need to first present that the energetic parts are literally absorbed into the bloodstream, and find yourself in these organs.
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