This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have high cholesterol or take medicine for it, talk to your GP or doctor before you change your diet.
The NHS keeps a short list of foods to eat more of, and a second list of foods to eat less of, for anyone trying to lower their cholesterol. Dates are not named on either list. Fruit is. This post goes through the NHS lists first, then looks at what the trials that gave people dates actually measured, so you can judge how much weight dates can carry.
What the NHS says to eat more of
On its how to lower your cholesterol page, the NHS says to cut down on fatty food, "especially food that contains a type of fat called saturated fat", and adds that you can still have foods with a healthier type of fat called unsaturated fat. Its eat-more list has five lines:
- oily fish, like mackerel and salmon
- olive oil, rapeseed oil and spreads made from these oils
- brown rice, wholegrain bread and wholewheat pasta
- nuts and seeds
- fruits and vegetables
The eat-less list is meat pies, sausages and fatty meat; butter, lard and ghee; cream and cheese; cakes and biscuits; and food that contains coconut oil or palm oil. The same page asks you to check food labels to see what type of fat a food has in it. It also sets an exercise target of at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity, a week.
Where dates sit on those lists
Dates come under fruit. The NHS 5 A Day page names them: "a 30g portion of dried fruit, such as currants, dates, sultanas and figs, counts as 1 of your 5 A Day". It adds that dried fruit should be eaten at mealtimes, not as a snack between meals, to reduce the impact on teeth.
The USDA record for Deglet Noor dates lists 0 mg of cholesterol, 0.39 g of fat and 0.032 g of saturated fat per 100 g. The same record gives 63.4 g of total sugars and 282 kcal per 100 g. A 30 g portion therefore carries about 19 g of sugars and 85 kcal. The Medjool record gives 66.5 g of sugars and 277 kcal per 100 g. Low in fat, then, but high in sugar.
What the date trials measured
The four papers below looked at what eating dates does to blood fats. The three trials are small, and three of the four papers studied only people with type 2 diabetes.
In a 2009 pilot study, ten healthy subjects ate 100 g a day of Medjool or Hallawi dates for four weeks. Their total cholesterol and their VLDL, LDL and HDL cholesterol did not change significantly. Their triglycerides fell, by 8% after Medjool and 15% after Hallawi.
A 2020 randomised trial assigned 100 people with type 2 diabetes to two groups. One group ate three dates a day for 16 weeks, and the control group avoided dates. Total cholesterol fell by 0.209 mmol/L in the date group. LDL fell by 0.171 mmol/L, with a 95% confidence interval running from −0.358 to 0.016, so that interval includes zero. HbA1c did not change.
A 2022 trial randomised 79 patients with type 2 diabetes to 60 g of dates or 60 g of raisins a day for 12 weeks, and 61 of them completed it. The abstract reports no difference between or within groups for lipids.
A 2025 meta-analysis pooled 14 cohorts from four studies, with 298 participants who had type 2 diabetes. It found a reduction in total cholesterol, with heterogeneity of 90%, and no significant change in LDL, triglycerides or HDL. The authors concluded that dates "could reduce total cholesterol" and that "further larger studies" are needed.
Reading the results side by side
Of those four papers, two report a fall in total cholesterol, one reports no change in lipids, and the pilot study saw only triglycerides move. The evidence is thin: the three trials enrolled between 10 and 100 people, the longest ran 16 weeks, and three of the four papers studied only people with type 2 diabetes.
The NHS page starts somewhere else: cutting down on fatty food, especially saturated fat. Dates fit on its eat-more list as fruit. A 30 g portion eaten with a meal, as dessert for example, matches the NHS portion sizes page, which says dried fruit "is best enjoyed as part of a meal – as dessert, for example, not as a between-meal snack". That same page warns that dried fruit "can be high in sugar". Use dates alongside the swaps on the NHS lists, such as olive or rapeseed oil in place of butter or ghee.
More posts sit in the dates fruit range and kurma prices categories. The About page explains how Sayer Dates handles orders, from retail purchases to wholesale supply, with enquiries by WhatsApp.
References
- NHS. How to lower your cholesterol. Page last reviewed 13 March 2026.
- NHS. 5 A Day: what counts? Page last reviewed 9 June 2026.
- NHS. 5 A Day portion sizes. Page last reviewed 19 July 2022.
- USDA FoodData Central. Dates, deglet noor (FDC 171726). SR Legacy, 2019.
- USDA FoodData Central. Dates, medjool (FDC 168191). SR Legacy, 2019.
- Rock W, et al. Effects of date (Phoenix dactylifera L., Medjool or Hallawi variety) consumption by healthy subjects on serum glucose and lipid levels and on serum oxidative status: a pilot study. J Agric Food Chem. 2009;57(17):8010-7. PMID 19681613.
- Alalwan TA, et al. Effects of daily low-dose date consumption on glycemic control, lipid profile, and quality of life in adults with pre- and type 2 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial. Nutrients. 2020;12(1):217. PMID 31952131.
- Butler AE, et al. Effect of date fruit consumption on the glycemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized clinical trial. Nutrients. 2022;14(17):3491. PMID 36079749.
- Mirghani HO, Alhowiti A. Dates fruit effects on dyslipidemia among patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. Pak J Med Sci. 2025;41(1):331-337. PMID 39867809.