Q. Is date sugar low FODMAP? If so, in what quantities? I know dates are not, but I’ve seen conflicting information from low-FODMAP sources I usually trust and it’s not on the MONASH app.
A. The short answer: as of this writing, we can only guess about the FODMAP status of date sugar. It probably has a small low FODMAP serving size, less than 2 tablespoons.
Is date sugar low FODMAP?
Date sugar is made from ripe, pitted dates that are dried to a very low moisture content and ground into a powder. Dates are the fruits from certain types of palm trees. But date sugar is not the same as palm sugar, which is made from the sap of palm trees. The Monash University FODMAP lab has analyzed “dried dates” in general, and one specific variety (Medjool), but not date sugar, the packaged sweetener.
We see in the Monash University Low FODMAP app that somewhere between 1 and 5 dates, or .71 oz to 1.06 oz of dates are low FODMAP. It’s difficult to guess how this information equates to date sugar.
Dates vary in nutritional composition
There are hundreds of varieties of dates grown around the world. In Saudi Arabia alone, there are over 300 varieties of dates grown, and they vary significantly in sugar and moisture content. Other countries and regions have their own unique varieties of dates. The variety of date used isn’t usually specified by the manufacturers of date sugar, but the moist varieties meant for snacking on are not likely to be among them. Therefore, It isn’t likely that date sugar has the same FODMAP content as the dates that were analyzed for FODMAPs at Monash.
Serving size estimates
We don’t know how much moisture is lost, or how much the ground dates “fluff up” in the making of date sugar. So if we said, for the sake of argument, that the type of sugar was similar to the dates in the app, we would have to figure many teaspoons or tablespoons of date sugar would equal the amount of FODMAPs in 1 pitted date. My calculations suggest that 2 tablespoons of date sugar has about the same amount of total sugar as one Medjool date.
Effects of ripening and drying
Adding more uncertainty, the final stages of ripening and drying of foods can alter their FODMAP content in unpredictable ways (check out the difference between grapes and raisins, or rice and puffed rice). As dates ripen, much of the sucrose content is “inverted”, or broken down to glucose plus fructose. Does that continue or change during the further drying of dates for grinding? It’s anyone’s guess. To be on the safe side, my guess will be conservative. Pending actual lab analysis of date sugar, less than 2 tablespoons might be low in FODMAPs. Larger servings might be a significant source of sorbitol and fructans.
Conclusion
Like many foods, dried dates can actually be low, medium, or high in FODMAPs depending on the serving size. Dates meant for eating have been lab tested, but date sugar has not. If you’d like to bake with date sugar on your low FODMAP diet, my advice is to make sure there’s less than 2 tablespoons in your portion of the recipe.
Further reading:
AlShwyeh H, Almahasheer H. Glucose content of 35 Saudi Arabian date fruits (phoenix dactylifera L.), Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences 21 (2022) 420-424. Seen at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1658077X21001545