Medicina Alternativa e Integrativa

Evaluation on the Benefits of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) to the Brain

Abstract

Wan Iryani Wan Ismail and Mohd Naim Fadhli Mohd Radzi

Date palm, Phoenix dactylifera has been known for a lot of beneficial properties such as antioxidant,antihyperlidimic and hepatoprotective activity but there is a lack of research which explores the benefits of the date palm to the brain. Thus, its physical and psychological benefits to the brain are evaluated. For the physical benefits evaluation, cerebral ischemia is induced in the brain of rats through middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) or bilateral common carotid arteries (BCCAO) restriction and later followed by reperfusion to expose them to reactive oxygen species activity. After that, they were treated with date fruit or date seed extract and then neuronal damage is observed. Meanwhile for the psychological benefits evaluation, rats is supplied with a date fruit extract diet before exposed to motor-coordination test, locomotor activity, hot plate test and haloperidol-induced catalepsy. It is found that neuronal damage in the form of shrinkage, atrophy and necrosis of neurons is greatly reduced and there is an increase in the levels of endogenous antioxidants in the brain of rats treated with date palm fruit extract. In contrast, rats supplied with date fruit extract diet shows no difference with the control group. In conclusion, constituents of P. dactylifera particularly its antioxidant properties and fatty acids benefit the brain physically through its neuroprotective effect which protects the brain from actions of reactive oxygen species but its benefit to the brain psychologically is still unclear and could not be proven.