Nutritional Quality and Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Selected Date Fruit Varieties of the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Production of highly soluble date sugar powder from the nutritive date fruits will be a suitable and superior alternative to commercial refined sugar, providing sustainability in date palm cultivation. A good understanding of the nutritional and phytochemical composition of date fruits is imperative for this purpose. In this work, 11 different date fruit species commonly cultivated in the United Arab Emirates were studied for their chemical composition, physical properties, amino acids, minerals, and anti-nutritional contents. The results revealed that the date fruits contain moisture, protein, lipid, and ash content in the ranges of 14.8%–20.5%, 2.19%–3.12%, 0.25%–0.51%, and 1.37%–1.97%, respectively. Potassium was identified as the major microelement in all the date varieties. Amino acid assay depicted that the date fruits mainly contained glutamine and aspartic acids, along with other essential acids. Monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) were more prevalent in the date fruits than polysaccharides (sucrose), exhibiting the potential of date fruit for non-diabetic sugar production. Phytoconstituents present in date samples, such as flavonoids, oxalates, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, and cyanides, were also evaluated and reported. Results showed that although all date fruit varieties were nutritious, they contain significant variation in their nutritional, physical, elemental, and phytochemical properties.