S Mohan Jain
University of Helsinki, Finland
Title: Health benefits of date palm: Phytochemicals and their functions
Biography
Biography: S Mohan Jain
Abstract
Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is widely grown in the hot arid regions, and provides nutrition, as a staple food for centuries, food security, and raw material to the food industry. Even though date fruits are rich in nutrition, minerals, sugar and phytochemicals and its global market share is extremely low. There are at least 15 minerals in dates, varies from 0.1 to 916 mg/100g, include boron, potassium, phosphorous, sodium and zinc. The seeds contain aluminum, cadmium, chloride, lead and sulphur in various proportions. The protective effects of fruits against chronic diseases are attributed to phytochemicals, which have antioxidant activity, cholesterol-lowering properties, chemoprevention of cancer, prevention of diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Date fruits contain many classes of bioactive components including carotenoids, polyphenols especially phenolic acid, isoflavons, lignin, and flavonoids, tannins, and sterols. In date palm cultivars, phytosterols are in abundance in shoot tips and pollen grains, calli and somatic embryos Thin layer chromatography revealed a number of phytosterols including cholesterol, beta-sitosterol and stigmasterol, which are beneficial as anti-inflammatory, anti-atherogenicity, and anti-cancer Fresh date fruits are an excellent source of energy and remedy for alcoholic intoxication, stimulation of the uterus by regulating contractions, and treatment of constipation, However, studies on the detailed identification, characterization, and quantification of phytochemicals in different date varieties at different stages of fruit ripening are still insufficient Also the systematic studies on the date health benefits are inadequate and hardly recognized as a healthy food, and this aspect will be highlighted.