Dates are a sweet, energy-dense dried fruit, and potassium is the mineral dates are best known for. A 100 g serving of Medjool dates has 696 mg, according to USDA FoodData Central. If you buy them often, choose a dates supplier that keeps its stock sealed and cool, because dates that dry out or pick up mould lose their flavour.
This is general information, not medical advice. If you have high blood pressure, heart or kidney disease, or take blood pressure medicine, ask your doctor before changing how much potassium you eat.
Why potassium matters for the heart
The NHS describes potassium as a mineral that helps control the balance of fluids in the body and helps the heart muscle work properly. Adults aged 19 to 64 need 3,500 mg a day, and the NHS says most people can get all of it from their normal diet (NHS). The heart is, after all, a muscle—one that must contract rhythmically every second of our lives.
100 g of Medjool dates, about four fruits at 24 g each, covers roughly a fifth of that 3,500 mg. Deglet Noor dates have 656 mg per 100 g (USDA). That is a useful amount. It also comes with 277 kcal and about 66 g of sugar per 100 g of Medjool, so dates add potassium to a diet rather than supply all of it.
Potassium, dates and blood pressure
WHO calls hypertension a major cause of premature death worldwide. Most people who have it feel no symptoms, so checking your blood pressure is the best way to know. WHO's advice for preventing and lowering it starts with eating more vegetables and fruits, and it adds that many people who make these changes will still need medicine (WHO).
The best evidence on potassium and blood pressure is a 2013 WHO-led review of 22 randomised trials. Eating more potassium lowered systolic pressure by 3.49 mmHg and diastolic by 1.96 mmHg on average, and the effect showed up in people with hypertension, not in people whose blood pressure was normal. In cohort studies, higher potassium intake was linked to a 24% lower risk of stroke, which the authors rated moderate-quality evidence. The review measured total potassium intake, not dates, and the authors limit their advice to people without impaired kidney handling of potassium (Aburto et al., 2013).
Studies on dates themselves are fewer. A 2025 review reports that moderate date intake lowered blood pressure in clinical studies, but it says the human trials are limited and not standardised, and it calls for larger randomised trials (Jim et al., 2025). So dates are one way to get more potassium, next to vegetables, beans and other fruit.
Antioxidants in dates
Dates contain polyphenols and flavonoids. The same 2025 review lists them among the compounds that may explain the blood pressure results, by lowering oxidative stress and inflammation, and it names confirming those mechanisms as one of the jobs for future trials (Jim et al., 2025).
Fibre in dates
Medjool dates have 6.7 g of fibre per 100 g and Deglet Noor 8 g (USDA). The NHS says eating plenty of fibre is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer, and that adults should aim for 30 g a day (NHS).
On cholesterol, a 2025 meta-analysis of four trials in people with type 2 diabetes found that dates lowered total cholesterol. LDL, triglycerides and HDL did not change significantly, results varied a lot between studies, and the authors call for larger trials (Mirghani & Alhowiti, 2025).
Natural sugars in dates
Many people look for alternatives to refined sugar. Whole dates bring fibre and minerals along with their sugar, which table sugar does not. They are still sugary, at about 66 g of sugar per 100 g of Medjool. The NHS does not count sugar inside whole fruit as "free sugars", but it does count the sugars in fruit purées and smoothies, so date paste and blended dates fall into the free-sugar group (NHS).
A UAE study measured the glycaemic index of five date varieties at 46 to 55, which counts as low, in 13 healthy volunteers and 10 people with type 2 diabetes. It was a small study and did not include Medjool (Alkaabi et al., 2011).
Choosing a dates supplier
Dates are picked, dried, packed and shipped long before they reach a shop shelf, and how well each step is done shows up in the texture and flavour.
Poor handling or improper storage can dry dates out, let mould in, and diminish flavor. These tips for keeping dates fresh cover the basics at home. When buying in bulk, ask how the stock is stored and when it was packed.
Shops, caterers and families stocking up for Ramadan often buy by the carton, which Malaysians call Borong kurma: buying dates wholesale.
Ways to eat dates
Medjool dates are soft and sweet, so they work in snacks, desserts, breakfast dishes, smoothies and some savoury recipes.
A few simple ways to eat them:
Add chopped dates to oatmeal or yogurt at breakfast
Blend a date into a smoothie instead of adding sugar; the NHS counts smoothie sugar as free sugar and suggests no more than 150 ml a day (NHS)
Use whole dates as a natural energy snack before workouts
Mix dates into salads with nuts and leafy greens
Sweeten desserts with chopped whole dates
Combine dates with nuts and seeds for homemade energy bars
Four Medjool dates weigh about 96 g and give roughly 670 mg of potassium, a little under a fifth of what an adult needs in a day. They also add about 265 kcal, so count them in your day's food.
Other nutrients in dates
Dates also contain smaller amounts of other minerals and vitamins. Per 100 g of Medjool (USDA), with each nutrient's role as the NHS describes it:
Magnesium, 54 mg: helps turn the food we eat into energy (NHS)
Calcium, 64 mg: helps regulate muscle contractions, including your heartbeat (NHS)
Iron, 0.9 mg: used to make red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body (NHS). Dates are not a big source of it
Vitamin B6, 0.25 mg: helps the body use and store energy from protein and carbohydrates (NHS)
Copper, 0.36 mg, which helps produce red and white blood cells, and manganese, 0.30 mg, which helps make and activate some enzymes (NHS)
How dates compare to other potassium-rich foods
Bananas are the usual go-to for potassium. Per 100 g, Medjool dates have nearly twice as much (696 mg against 358 mg) and more fibre (6.7 g against 2.6 g). They also have about three times the calories, 277 kcal against 89, because most of the water has dried out. Gram for gram, dates win on potassium. Calorie for calorie, a banana gives more (USDA, bananas). For more comparisons, see dates and raisins side by side.
Dates also travel well. Soft dates like Medjool keep best sealed and kept cool, as the storage tips linked above explain.
Tips for choosing good dates
Variety and quality change the taste, texture and shelf life of the dates you buy.
What to check:
Look for soft, moist dates with no crystallized sugar on the surface
Choose naturally dried dates rather than those treated with additives
Ensure packaging is airtight and well-sealed
Inspect dates for consistent color and texture
Prioritize suppliers who emphasize freshness, quality, and transparency
Fresh, well-stored dates taste better and keep longer. The potassium figures above are for the fruit itself and differ only a little between Medjool and Deglet Noor.
Dates in a long-term heart-healthy diet
We found no long-term study that tracked date eaters and counted heart attacks or strokes. The evidence is about the diet around them: more potassium (lower blood pressure in people with hypertension, lower stroke risk in cohort studies), more fibre (lower risk of heart disease and stroke), and more fruit and vegetables, as WHO advises.
Dates can be part of that diet, together with regular exercise and balanced meals, as long as their sugar and calories are counted.
Conclusion
Dates are a good source of potassium, with 696 mg per 100 g of Medjool, about a fifth of an adult's daily need. Eating more potassium lowers blood pressure in people with hypertension, and dates bring fibre too. Direct evidence on dates and blood pressure is still limited, and dates carry a lot of sugar and calories, so they work best as one part of a diet with plenty of vegetables and fruit.
Buy them from a supplier that stores them well, keep them sealed and cool at home, and count their sugar and calories in your day.
References
- USDA FoodData Central. Dates, medjool (FDC 168191); Dates, deglet noor (FDC 171726); Bananas, raw (FDC 173944).
- Aburto NJ et al. Effect of increased potassium intake on cardiovascular risk factors and disease: systematic review and meta-analyses. BMJ. 2013;346:f1378. PMID 23558164
- Jim EL et al. Nature's Cardioprotective Sweetness: A Review of Dates as Functional Food in Hypertension. Foods. 2025;14(24):4208. PMID 41464915
- Mirghani HO, Alhowiti A. Dates fruit effects on dyslipidemia among patients with Type-2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. Pak J Med Sci. 2025;41(1):331-337. PMID 39867809
- Alkaabi JM et al. Glycemic indices of five varieties of dates in healthy and diabetic subjects. Nutr J. 2011;10:59. PMID 21619670
- WHO. Hypertension fact sheet.
- NHS. Vitamins and minerals: others (potassium, magnesium, copper, manganese); Calcium; Iron; B vitamins.
- NHS. How to get more fibre into your diet; Sugar: the facts.