Valorisation of Dates as Dietary Supplements for Human Health
摘要
Processing of dates (Phoenix dactylifera L.) generates many types of by-products, including low-quality seeds and date fruits, fibres, and bioactive compounds such as tannins, flavonoids, carotenoids and tocopherols. A huge amount of date waste is thrown away every day, leading to environmental issues along with the loss of important nutrients and bioactive compounds. Given the significant amount of nutrients in these by-products and the large amount of waste generation, there is a great possibility to use them to produce valuable products such as fibre and phenolic compounds with a high market value. When utilised as a dietary supplement, dates can benefit human health significantly. Their high nutritional value, combined with a variety of health benefits, makes them a great addition to a well-balanced diet. The valorisation of date fruit and their co-products in food formulations such as whole dates, date syrup, powder, extract, bars and snacks can help to meet current customer demands for foods manufactured with natural ingredients that have health benefits beyond nutrition. Given the above, this chapter focuses on valorising these date fruit, by-products and wastes that will lead towards utilising this valuable resource to produce dietary supplements for human benefit.