An older version of this post said dates prevent high blood pressure and anemia. Those are two separate questions, so this page takes them one at a time and sets out what the sources say, with a link to each one so you can check it.
What 100 g of dates contains
USDA FoodData Central lists these amounts in 100 g of Deglet Noor dates: 282 kcal, 8.0 g of fibre, 656 mg of potassium, 2 mg of sodium, 1.02 mg of iron, 43 mg of magnesium, 39 mg of calcium and 62 mg of phosphorus. Medjool dates come to 277 kcal, 696 mg of potassium, 1 mg of sodium and 0.9 mg of iron per 100 g.
The same two records list 0.4 mg of vitamin C for Deglet Noor and 0.0 mg for Medjool. So the minerals in the old post check out. The vitamin C barely registers.
Dates and high blood pressure
The NHS page on high blood pressure lists what raises your chances of having it: getting older, having close relatives with high blood pressure, a Black African, Black Caribbean or South Asian ethnic background, an unhealthy diet ("especially a diet that's high in salt"), being overweight, smoking, drinking too much alcohol, and feeling stressed over a long period. Its advice for lowering blood pressure is a healthy, balanced diet, at least 150 minutes of exercise a week and losing weight if you are overweight. It also says not to eat too much salt, not to drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week on a regular basis, not to drink too much caffeine, and not to smoke. Dates are not named on that page.
A WHO page on potassium and blood pressure does name dates. The WHO says "increasing potassium intake significantly reduces blood pressure in adults", names "bananas, papayas and dates" among the fruits that contain it, and suggests at least 3510 mg of potassium a day for adults. 100 g of Medjool dates supplies 696 mg of that.
That is evidence about potassium, not about dates. When dates themselves were tested in a randomised trial, 79 patients with type 2 diabetes ate either 60 g of dates or 60 g of raisins a day for 12 weeks, and 61 of them completed it. There was no difference between or within the groups in systolic or diastolic blood pressure, and the authors saw no beneficial effects of dates on other cardiovascular indices. This site has a longer post on dates and blood pressure that goes through salt, weight and fat one at a time.
Dates and anemia
The NHS says iron deficiency anaemia is "caused by lack of iron, often because of blood loss or pregnancy", and that it is treated "with iron tablets and by eating iron-rich foods". When diet is partly the cause, its eat-more list is dark-green leafy vegetables like watercress and curly kale, cereals and bread with extra iron, meat, "dried fruit like apricots, prunes and raisins", and pulses. Dates are not on the list. The same page says large amounts of tea, coffee, milk and dairy, and of foods high in phytic acid such as wholegrain cereals, make it harder for your body to absorb iron.
For scale, the NHS iron page gives the daily need as 8.7 mg for men aged 19 and over, 14.8 mg for women aged 19 to 49, and 8.7 mg for women aged 50 and over (women still having periods after 50 may need the 19 to 49 amount). 100 g of Deglet Noor dates has 1.02 mg.
Three of the PubMed records on dates and haemoglobin are summarised here:
- A 2021 literature review of 10 articles on pregnant women reported that giving dates raised haemoglobin in all of them except one, which found no effect from date juice. Most of the literature it reviewed was on mild anaemia.
- A 2024 quasi-experimental study in Pekanbaru, Indonesia gave 50 anaemic pregnant women (haemoglobin below 11 g/dl, not taking iron tablets) two tablespoons of honey and date extracts twice a day for two weeks. Haemoglobin rose significantly. The dates were mixed with honey, and the abstract describes no comparison group.
- A 2025 systematic review of 21 studies on women's health reported that date intake was associated with improved haemoglobin levels in adolescent girls.
None of the three abstracts compares dates with iron tablets. The NHS treatment for a low red blood cell count is iron tablets, taken for about 6 months, alongside iron-rich food.
How many dates make a portion
The old post counted three dates as one unit of fruit. The NHS 5 A Day guide counts by weight instead: "a 30g portion of dried fruit, such as currants, dates, sultanas and figs, counts as 1 of your 5 A Day", and it should be eaten at mealtimes, not as a snack between meals, to reduce the impact on teeth. Using the USDA figure, 30 g of Medjool dates is about 83 kcal.
Buying dates
Every date sold in Malaysia is imported. You can buy them from sellers such as Kurma supplier Malaysia. Date Fruit Exporter's About Us page says it serves retail and wholesale buyers with delivery across Malaysia, and the Contact Us page lists its WhatsApp number.
This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have high blood pressure or anemia, follow the plan agreed with your doctor.
References
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, FoodData Central (SR Legacy, 2019). Dates, deglet noor, FDC ID 171726; Dates, medjool, FDC ID 168191.
- NHS. High blood pressure. Page last reviewed 19 July 2024.
- World Health Organization, eLENA. Increasing potassium intake to reduce blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular diseases in adults.
- Butler AE, Obaid J, Wasif P, et al. Effect of date fruit consumption on the glycemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized clinical trial. Nutrients. 2022;14(17):3491. PubMed 36079749.
- NHS. Iron deficiency anaemia. Page last reviewed 26 January 2024.
- NHS. Iron. Page last reviewed 3 August 2020.
- Saputri RD, Usman AN, Widaningsih Y, et al. Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) consumption as a nutrition source for mild anemia. Gac Sanit. 2021;35 Suppl 2:S271-S274. PubMed 34929829.
- Erika, Dewi YI, Arneliwati. The effect of dates and honey extracts (phoenix dactylifera and apis mellifera) for increasing pregnant women's haemoglobin. J Pak Med Assoc. 2024;74(5 Supple-5):S36-S38. PubMed 39221796.
- Shirdel E, Rahimi F, Jafarzadeh M, Abdi F, Rahnemaei FA. Improving female health at various life stages: a systematic review of the impact of date fruit products. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2025;25(1):38-49. PubMed 40641695.
- NHS. 5 A Day: what counts?