Canadian Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 8, Issue 1, June 2020 ISSN 1927-8942 (Print Edition), ISSN 1927-8950 (Online Edition) Copyright © 2020 by The Global Science Heritage Publisher (http://www.globalscienceheritage.org). All Rights Reserved. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Library and Archives/Government of Canada, (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca) & The Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License which permits unrestricted non- commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Page1 Editorial Article Health Benefits and Nutritional Aspects of Date Palm Pollen Mostafa I. Waly Food Science and Nutrition Department, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman Correspondence Email Address: mostafa@squ.edu.om ABSTRACT “Let food be the medicine and the medicine be the food” was quoted by Hippocrates more than 2000 years ago. In this context, traditional medicines of different countries have great potential for introducing new natural remedies for various human diseases. One of these remedies is date palm pollen, which is an edible component of the date palm tree, and has been used in many countries as a therapeutic agent for male infertility. Date palm pollen is rich in bioactive compounds with phytochemicals and nutraceutical properties which might attribute for its therapeutic effects on infertility. However, the therapeutic role of these bioactive compounds in relation to other human chronic diseases was not well understood. The present editorial aims to characterize the therapeutic and nutritional properties of date palm pollen which might enhance its use as a functional food and as a safe additive in food industries. Keywords: Bioactive Compounds, Date Palm Pollen, Human Health Citation: Mostafa I. Waly. Health Benefits and Nutritional Aspects of Date Palm Pollen. Canadian Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2020; 8 (1): 1-3. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.14206/canad.j.clin.nutr.2020.01.01 INTRODUCTION Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L., from the family Palmae) pollen is the male reproductive cells of palm flowers (1). It is interesting to note that approximately 1000 tons of date pollen is reproduced every year by millions of palm trees grown in the Arabic regions (2). Date palm pollen was used by the early Egyptians and Chinese people as a rejuvenating medicinal agent. Date palm pollen is also used worldwide as a dietary supplement (3). Date palm pollen was traditionally claimed to be aphrodisiacs and fertility enhancers, as many studies have described its importance in traditional medicine to treat male infertility (4). The aphrodisiac effect of date palm pollen might be attributed to the presence of estrogen, and estradiol hormones (5). Page 1-3