Israeli researchers have discovered that eating dates daily can protect against atherosclerosis, a major cause of heart attacks and strokes. Adding a handful of dates to your daily diet could improve your blood triglyceride levels without raising blood sugar levels according to new research by an Israeli scientist.

 

Professor Michael Aviram, a biochemist from the Technion-Israel Institute of Science, found that eating Hallawi dates daily for four weeks could improve the quality of lipids (fats) in the blood without raising sugar levels. In 1995, Aviram was the first to prove that consuming red wine reduces cholesterol oxidation and arteriosclerosis development.

 

Dates, which grow in sub-tropical and desert areas throughout North Africa, the Middle East, California and Australia are rich in natural sugars and vitamins A and B. They are thought to be one of the world's oldest cultivated fruits and the date palm was often called the 'tree of life,' as every part of the tree can be utilized.