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The health benefits of dates in pregnancy is a question that arises in the mind of almost every woman who is a mother-to-be. As today’s mother is very keen about their and their child’s health, they want to know about the health benefits of dates in pregnancy1.
This article will throw light on some incredible health benefits of dates in pregnancy and why we should add dates to our diet in general.
4 Incredible things to know about Dates In Pregnancy
During pregnancy, every woman wants to know about each and everything beneficial for them and their baby. They don’t want to leave any loophole in that. And one of the important parts of pregnancy care is the diet that every woman takes.
A pregnant lady’s diet includes all such things that give her and her child the appropriate nourishment they both need and comfort the mother with her pregnancy swings and making her pregnancy time easy and makes her labor easy and less painful.
We should know about the health benefits of dates in pregnancy, making labor and delivery easy. It also gives spontaneous labor2.
1. Why You Should Know About The Health Benefits Of Dates In Pregnancy
Pregnancy is such a phase of life that is the most important in any women’s life. Pregnancy is a time when a woman undergoes many changes, complications, and pain.
This is an exciting phase for many women and men, who are soon going to become parents. It is like starting a completely new life with a new member of their family.
Pregnancy is a time that is full of mood swings, midnight cravings, sleeping problems, and difficulties in any kind of physical activity. And every woman has to undergo this, they have to feel all these pains and sufferings, but then also they want to be a mother. Both the parents, especially the mother wants to cherish the beautiful moments of motherhood.
Apart from all these emotions, a mother always wants to give her child proper nourishment. Every woman wants to give her child proper and necessary development. Pregnancy is a time which is not only important for the mother but also for the child.
A child’s life starts in the womb of his mother when he starts taking his first breath in his mother’s womb. His life outside his mother’s womb depends on his mother and her actions.
If a woman takes proper care of her diet, it only helps her with her pregnancy pains3, complications, and mood swings and gives her child proper nourishment, which helps them with their overall growth, ultimately helping them in their future life.
So every mother wants to give her child a good life, a good and healthy future. The most important thing is the diet that she takes and it should include fruits, dry fruits, nuts, vegetables, poultry products, dairy products, and everything rich in nutrients required in pregnancy.
This daily diet makes her pregnancy easy, and so-and-so makes her labor easy and gives her child nourishment. And that is why discussing the health benefits of dates in pregnancy is important.
In recent times, some researchers say dates should be an important part of pregnant ladies because they are very beneficial for them. They say that dates can be instrumental in making women’s pregnancy period easy, and less painful, and consuming dates in the last weeks of pregnancy can help the labor.
2. Health Benefits Of Dates In General Life
Before going to the health benefits of dates in pregnancy we should discuss the health benefits of dates in general life.
Date or date palm is an edible fruit that is sweet in nature. Its scientific or botanical name is Phoenix dactylifera. Dates are grown all over the world because their consumption is increasing day by day. There are many types of dates, including dry and wet dates. Apart from dry and wet dates, there are many more things on which dates differentiate from each other.
Among all the date varieties, Medjool dates are the most famous ones which is famous all over the world. Dates are not new fruits, and we can trace back their origin and uses even thousands of years ago. We have many fossils of date fruits, which are many thousands of years old.
Even in the early civilizations like Harappan Civilisation, Sumerian Civilisation, and other civilizations, date fruit has an important place in people’s diets. Talking specifically of the Ancient Roman civilization, dates were an important part of the triumphal processions and symbolized victory.
There are many health benefits of dates which can be as follows:
Healthy body organs:
Date fruits are rich in many essential nutrients including both micro and macronutrients4. The nutrients which are found in date fruits are proteins, fibre, boron, cobalt, copper, fluorine, magnesium, manganese, selenium, zinc, vitamins like Vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, C, E and K, carbohydrates, fat, and minerals like calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, antioxidants, and water in a small amount. These nutrients help in the proper functioning of the body’s organs.
Good Digestion:
As dates are rich in fibre, they promote digestive health. Fibre nutrient is important for the digestive tract and digestive organs promote the good bacteria in them. These good bacteria make our digestive system healthy and strong and keep away digestive system-related diseases.
Prevent serious diseases.
As dates are full of antioxidants and have more amount of antioxidants found in any other nut or fruit, the important antioxidants found in date fruits are flavonoids, carotenoids, and phenolic acid, all these antioxidants help prevent serious diseases like heart diseases, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and reduce inflammation in the body.
Prevent Diabetes:
Dates are helpful in the prevention of diabetes. Although the sugar content in date fruit is almost 80%, the fibre found in the dates helps prevent diabetes, maintain the blood sugar level, and lower the blood sugar level in diabetic patients.
Improved mental health:
They can be useful in the prevention of mental problems. The nutrients which are found in dates can be helpful in the promotion of mental health and keep away diseases related to the brain.
- Other health benefits of dates can be good bone health and prevention of many diseases related to diabetes and many such diseases.
3. Health Benefits Of Dates In Pregnancy
The main question of our article is what are the health benefits of dates in pregnancy. And after discussing the health benefits of dates, now it’s time to move forward to answer the of dates in pregnancy.
As we have discussed the health benefits in the preceding section, one of the health benefits of dates that it helps in pregnancy; let’s see how.
As we have discussed the importance of pregnancy, in the life of a woman and the life of a child too, and with that, we have also acquired some knowledge about the health benefits of dates, now its time for the main topic of discussion which is the health benefits of dates in pregnancy.
The Health benefits of dates in pregnancy are important to discuss because dates are an important part of a healthy person’s diet, and pregnancy is a significant phase of any woman’s life, so it becomes necessary to ponder over the health benefits of dates in pregnancy.
1. Easy Labor:
- The first and foremost health benefit of dates in pregnancy is that it helps in easy labour. According to research, women who eat six dates in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy can have much easier labour, resulting in a short first stage of labor, cervical ripening,g, or making the cervical ready for the labor.
- In most pregnant women, it is seen that they have to take medication to induce their labour. But dates induce labour5, makes the cervical ready for labor, make spontaneous labor, and act as a natural induction for pregnancy. Thus it makes the labor more easy and relaxed.
- 2. Prevent pregnancy fatigue:
- Another health benefits of dates in pregnancy are that they prevention from pregnancy fatigue. In pregnancy, most women suffer from fatigue, and eating dates regularly can help prevent fatigue, as date fruits have so many nutrients, especially in natural forms which boost energy and keep fatigue at bay.
3. Prevent pregnancy complications:
- In pregnancy, many women complain of pregnancy constipation, but the fiber found in dates boosts the digestive system’s health and prevents pregnancy constipation6.
- The nutrients like iron, vitamins, folate, folic acid prevent the would-be mothers from anemia and prevent the infant from any disease, helping him grow a healthy body and strong bones.
- It also prevents high blood pressure by maintaining blood pressure and relaxing the blood vessels.
4. Healthy alternative to sweet cravings:
- Also, consuming dates during pregnancy can provide a natural and healthy option for sweet cravings and also prevents gestational diabetes, which is very common in pregnant ladies.
- These are some of the health benefits of dates in pregnancy.
4. Precaution
While we have discussed the health benefits of dates in pregnancy, it is also important to look for the precaution of eating dates every day as every woman is different, and they have to take care of their individual health.
The precautions include possible allergies that one can have and keeping in mind the amount of carbohydrates and sugar that a woman in her pregnancy has to take care of.
So, before including date fruit in the diet she should consult her doctor for better results.
FAQs:
- Dates are also rich in potassium, a mineral that helps relax blood vessels and reduce blood pressure. Dates are a source of folate, which helps reduce the likelihood of birth defects.
- In one study, researchers found that women who ate 6 dates a day for the 4 weeks before delivery had the following results: higher cervical dilatation and ripening at hospital admission. lower c-section rate. less need for certain medications.
- Foods are often categorized as ‘hot’ or ‘cool’ foods in Chinese medicine. This is based on a variety of properties. Dates are considered warm foods. Warm and hot foods are thought to raise your metabolism and body circulation
- Kordi, Masoumeh, et al. “Effect of dates in late pregnancy on the duration of labor in nulliparous women.” Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research 22.5 (2017): 383-387. ↩︎
- Bagherzadeh Karimi, Alireza, et al. “Effects of date fruit (Phoenix dactylifera L.) on labor and delivery outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” BMC pregnancy and childbirth 20 (2020): 1-14. ↩︎
- Quintero Rodriguez, Carolina, and Olga Troynikov. “The effect of maternity support garments on alleviation of pains and discomforts during pregnancy: a systematic review.” Journal of Pregnancy 2019 (2019). ↩︎
- Solfrizzi, Vincenzo, et al. “Relationships of dietary patterns, foods, and micro-and macronutrients with Alzheimer’s disease and late-life cognitive disorders: a systematic review.” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 59.3 (2017): 815-849. ↩︎
- Al-Kuran, O., et al. “The effect of late pregnancy consumption of date fruit on labour and delivery.” Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology 31.1 (2011): 29-31. ↩︎
- Cullen, Garret, and Diarmuid O’Donoghue. “Constipation and pregnancy.” Best Practice & Research Clinical Gastroenterology 21.5 (2007): 807-818. ↩︎
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