Does Eating Dates Help Labour Outcomes?

So you’ve reached week 36 of pregnancy and at your appointment with your midwife she suggests you start eating 6 dates a day. You add it to the growing list of “things to help induce labour”- along with raspberry leaf tea, pineapple, hot curry and your aunty Sue’s almond bundt cake she absolutely swears by. But before you start putting dates in the wives tales category, there might just be something in it. Let’s take a look at the research shall we?

This prospective study was only small with 69 women consuming 6 date fruits per day 4 weeks prior to their estimated date of delivery (EDD) and 45 women not consuming dates. O. Al-Kuran et al (2011) found;

-Women who consumed date fruit had significantly higher mean cervical dilatation upon admission compared with the non-date fruit consumers.

-Spontaneous labour occurred in 96% of those who consumed dates, compared with 79% women in the non-date fruit consumers.

-Use of prostin/oxytocin was significantly lower in women who consumed dates (28%), compared with the non-date fruit consumers (47%)

-The mean latent phase of the first stage of labour was shorter in women who consumed date fruit compared with the non-date fruit consumers.

Of course, as with most research, part of the conclusion suggests the need for a randomised control trial. It was concluded that the consumption of date fruit in the last 4 weeks before labour significantly reduced the need for induction and augmentation of labour, and produced a more favourable, but non-significant, delivery outcome.

Bagherzadeh Karimi (2020) conducted a systematic review and meta analysis on the effects of date fruit and delivery outcomes. Eight studies were included in the qualitative and quantitative synthesis. Meta-Analysis showed that date fruit consumption can significantly reduce active phase of labor. They also found and also it can significantly improve the bishop score. (The Bishop score is a tool your healthcare provider may use to determine if your cervix is ready for labor.) Bagherzadeh Karimi (2020) also suggests in the conclusion that more research is needed due to the low to mediate quality of the previous studies.

But whilst this further research is taking place, what are you, as a pregnant person, going to do with this information? I always encourage people to really think about the effects of both positive and negative with regards research. So the positives COULD (I really stress this, it’s a possibility, we are trying to increase favour here, nothing is a given,) mean that you have an increased chance of spontaneous labour, reduced chance of using prostin/oxytocin and a shorter mean latent phase of the first stage of labour. Or not. The nice thing about the research and the suggestions are that all you have to do to MAYBE experience these positive effects is to consume 6 dates a day 4 weeks prior to your EDD. There’s no crazy exercise, no fancy machine, no expensive course of treatment. You just eat the dates! I think this is why so many women are being encouraged to eat the dates. There is a suggestion the research is positive and favourable (although more research is needed (when isn’t it?!)) So really what do you have to lose, apart from maybe developing a dislike for dates. To help with the thought of just sitting at the breakfast table having to chew up 6 dates every day, below are some of my favourite recipes to help you get your daily dates in!

Salted Chocolate Smoothie

1 cup coconut milk (or milk of your choice)

1 tbsp cacao

1 tsp maple syrup

3/4 dates

a good pinch of sea salt

(Can also add a scoop of unflavoured protein powder)

Throw all the ingredients into a nutribullet or similar blender and blitz.

Warming Cinnamon and Date Porridge

`50g oats

Cover oats with milk of your choice

1tsp cinnamon

20g raisins

3/4 finely chopper dates

Mix all ingredients in a pan and cook on the hob until porridge thickens. For into bowl and sprinkle with flax seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds… All the seeds.

Date Canapés

Try using nice juicy mejool dates for these as often your generic dates that are better blitzed up in smoothies can be a bit dry for these.

cut along date carefully to remove stone and fill with nut butter (almond is my favourite and works well) then dip the date in dark chocoalte and put int he fridge to set.

Repeat the above steps but this time try filling he date with cream cheese and sprinkle with black sesame seeds.

You can also try making a date slab (pictured below) Mush together 10-15 dates on to some parchment. Spread nut butter over the top (I prefer homemade, my go to recipe is here,) you can then spread high quality melted chocolate over the top and scatter with your choice of topping. By high quality chocolate I mean a high cocoa content, try to stay at 70% or above. Saying that 90% in my humble opinion just tastes like dirt. Put the completed slab in the fridge to set the break off bits as and when you need to top ou your date consumption for the day!

References

Bagherzadeh Karimi, A., Elmi, A., Mirghafourvand, M. et al. Effects of date fruit (Phoenix dactylifera L.) on labor and delivery outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 20, 210 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-02915-x

O. Al-Kuran, L. Al-Mehaisen, H. Bawadi, S. Beitawi & Z. Amarin (2011) The effect of late pregnancy consumption of date fruit on labour and delivery, Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 31:1, 29-31, DOI: 10.3109/01443615.2010.522267