Dates in Pregnancy: Calories, Fibre and Portion Size
This page does not claim dates control weight in pregnancy: we could not find a trial on PubMed that tested it. Instead it sets out what is in a date and what the studies of dates in pregnancy actually measured, alongside the NHS advice on eating while pregnant. It is general information, not medical advice. Your midwife or doctor is the person to ask about your own diet.
What the NHS says about weight in pregnancy
According to the NHS page on weight gain in pregnancy, most pregnant women gain between 10kg and 12.5kg, putting on most of it after week 20. The same page says gaining too much weight can increase the risk of complications such as gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia, and gaining too little can lead to premature birth or a baby with a low birth weight. It is also plain that pregnancy isn’t the time to go on a diet.
The NHS guide to a healthy diet in pregnancy says there is no need to “eat for 2”, even when expecting twins or triplets. It lists biscuits, cake, chocolate and fizzy drinks among the foods high in fat, sugar or both, and suggests having them less often and in small amounts. So the useful question is not whether dates control weight. It is whether a few dates are a better choice than the biscuit you would otherwise reach for.
Dates against a biscuit, per 100g
USDA FoodData Central has no separate entry for Iranian varieties such as Mazafati, so the nearest figures are for Medjool and Deglet Noor. Per 100g, Medjool dates provide 277 kcal, 66.5g of total sugars and 6.7g of fibre. Deglet Noor dates provide 282 kcal, 63.4g of sugars and 8.0g of fibre. Commercially prepared butter cookies come in at 467 kcal, 18.8g of fat and 0.8g of fibre per 100g.
Gram for gram, the dates carry roughly 40% fewer calories than the biscuits and several times the fibre. They are not a low-sugar food, though. About two-thirds of a Medjool date’s weight is sugar, so the size of the portion still decides how many calories you eat.
How much is one portion
The NHS 5 A Day guide says a 30g portion of dried fruit, dates included, counts as 1 of your 5 A Day. On the USDA Medjool figures, 30g works out at about 83 kcal and 2g of fibre. The same page adds that dried fruit should be eaten at mealtimes, not as a snack between meals, to reduce the impact on teeth. That makes dates a better fit as the sweet end of a meal than as something to graze on all afternoon.
Dates and blood sugar
A 2016 study at Qassim University measured the glycaemic index of 17 date varieties grown in Saudi Arabia in healthy subjects (ten men and nine women). The mean GI was 55.2, with a range of 42.8 to 74.6, and the authors note that they used dates at the tamr stage, which may not translate to all dates. A 2023 narrative review on dates and blood glucose reported that a few randomised trials showed no change in blood glucose or weight in the groups eating dates. It also says those studies were limited by small samples and short duration. Neither paper looked at pregnant women. If you have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, ask your diabetes team how dates fit your meal plan.
What the pregnancy studies of dates measured
The clinical trials of dates in pregnancy have mostly looked at labour and birth, a few at haemoglobin, and none that we found at weight. A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis of 48 studies found that eating dates in late pregnancy shortened gestation and labour (except the second stage) and reduced the need for labour induction. It also reported that dates in the third trimester raised maternal haemoglobin levels. The same review rated the overall evidence quality as unacceptable, found a high risk of bias in most studies, and noted that safety was recorded in only four trials. Its authors conclude that better-designed studies are needed before dates can be supported as care around childbirth.
Buying and storing dates for a pregnancy diet
If you buy from a Pembekal Kurma Malaysia, ask which variety and grade you are getting. Grades such as A, AA or AAA are each importer’s own size sorting, not an international standard, so a bigger grade simply means a bigger date and more calories per piece. Weighing out 30g once tells you how many pieces from that box make a portion.
Soft varieties such as Mazafati need refrigeration, so keep them sealed in the fridge. If you were thinking of dates as a snack in a pregnancy diet, the NHS advice above is to have dried fruit with meals instead.
More on this site: the Healthy Foods category has other articles on food and diet, the Iranian Dates category collects posts about dates from Iran, and the Contact Us page is the place to send us a question.
References
- NHS. Weight gain in pregnancy.
- NHS. Have a healthy diet in pregnancy.
- NHS. 5 A Day: what counts?
- USDA FoodData Central. Dates, medjool (FDC 168191); Dates, deglet noor (FDC 171726); Cookies, butter, commercially prepared, enriched (FDC 174950).
- AlGeffari MA, et al. Glycemic indices, glycemic load and glycemic response for seventeen varieties of dates grown in Saudi Arabia. Ann Saudi Med. 2016;36(6):397-403. PMID 27920411.
- Meenakshi S, Misra A. Effect of dates on blood glucose and other metabolic variables: a narrative review. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2023;17(2):102705. PMID 36702045.
- Salajegheh Z, Nasiri M, et al. Is oral consumption of dates in the peripartum period effective and safe integrative care to facilitate childbirth and improve perinatal outcomes? BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2024;24(1):12. PMID 38166785.