Food as Medicine: Date (Phoenix dactylifera, Arecaceae)

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera, Arecaceae) has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years.¹ Because of this long history of use and cultivation, the exact origin of the date palm is difficult to pinpoint. Dates have been harvested for centuries in northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and have played a large role in the economies of countries where the plant grows.^1,2 The largest global producers of dates are Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan, and the United States.³

The date palm is a large palm tree and grows about 49-82 feet tall.¹ The palm leaves are 1.5 to 11.5 inches long.¹ Around the trunk of the date tree, the palm branches grow in a spiral pattern and form a crown with hundreds of leaves that are gray in color.^2,4 The leaves have a…