According to Estanove (1990), the composition of the date is defined as follows:
• Water, 70 to 80% in fresh dates and 10 to 40% in dry dates.
• Sugars: non-reducing (sucrose), reducing (glucose), fructose. Sugars represent 50 to 90% of dry dates.
• Proteins, lipids, cellulose, ashes (mineral salts), vitamins, enzymes. They are 7 to 15%.
Date pulp contains sucrose and C6 sugars: Glucose, levulose, fructose, etc., and invert sugars in variable proportions. Some dates are completely devoid of sucrose; on the other hand, others contain a high proportion (Munier 1973)
The high sugar content of date pulp gives these fruits a high energy value, in fact 100g of Deglet-Nour pulp provides 306 calories and 260 calories are provided by common dates(Munier, 1973; Zaid and de Wet, 1999).
The date fruit is rich in nutrients and, due to its dietary values, it has always been held in high esteem by people. Compared to other fruits and foods (apricot: 520 calories/kg; banana: 970 calories/kg; orange: 480 calories/kg; cooked rice: 1,800 calories/kg; wheat bread: 2,295 calories/kg; meat (without fat): 2,245 calories/Kg), dates provide more than 3,000 calories per kilogram (Munier, 1973; Zaid and de Wet, 1999).
In most varieties, the sugar content of a date fruit is almost entirely in the reverse form (i.e. glucose and fructose), which is important for people who cannot tolerate sucrose. The invert sugar from dates is immediately absorbed by the human body without being subjected to the digestion that ordinary sugar undergoes (Estanove, 1990; Zaid and de Wet, 1999)
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