Abstract:
The date fruits are rich sources of protein, vitamins, alkaloids, carbohydrates, carotenoids, fatty acid (stearic acid, lauric, linoleic, and palmitic), dietary fibers, tannins, polyphenolic compounds, and flavonoids. The fruits also contain different types of nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium. The date fruits are also utilized in different pharmaceutical and medicinal aspects. From the pharmaceutical overview, the date fruits contain many pharmaceutical compounds such as anthocyanins, sterols, procyanidins and flavonoids, and phenolic carotenoids. These compounds possess multiple beneficial pharmaceutical effects. Preclinical investigations have shown that the date fruits have antioxidant, free radical scavenging, antimicrobial, anti-mutagenic, and antiinflammatory, hepatoprotective, gastroprotective, nephroprotective, anticancer, and immunostimulant activities. There is a lack of literature about the pharmaceutical benefits of date fruit particularly in the Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia where the mass of different varieties of date fruits are produced and available in the markets. Therefore, this article highlights selected pharmaceutical properties of the fruits.

Keywords: Date Fruit, Pharmaceutical Values, Antioxidant Activity, Anticancer Function.