Natural colon cleaning remedies are often sold as something to buy: a tea, a powder, a cleanse kit. The research points somewhere duller. Products sold as a "detox" have very little clinical evidence behind them, while the habits that keep bowels regular are fibre and fluid, plus moving about. This page goes through what the studies actually found, including one small trial on dates, and where soft Mazafati dates fit.
What the evidence says about detox products
A 2015 critical review in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics by Klein and Kiat looked at detox diets that claim to clear toxins and help with weight loss. The authors found very little clinical evidence to support them. The handful of studies that did report a benefit were hampered by flawed methods and small sample sizes. They also wrote that, to the best of their knowledge, no randomised controlled trials had tested commercial detox diets in humans.
That doesn't mean every product on the shelf is harmful. It means the promise on the box has not been properly tested, which is a poor reason to pay for it.
What seven dates a day did in one trial
One direct test of dates and the large intestine is a trial from the University of Reading, published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2015 (Eid et al.). Twenty-two healthy volunteers took part in a cross-over design. In one 21-day arm they ate seven dates a day, about 50g. In the other they had a maltodextrin-dextrose control. The two arms were separated by a 14-day washout.
After eating dates, bowel movements and stool frequency rose significantly compared with the volunteers' own baseline (21 people were analysed). Stool ammonia fell, and the genotoxicity of faecal water was lower than in the control arm. Dates did not significantly change the growth of the bacterial groups the researchers measured, or short-chain fatty acid levels.
Keep the limits in mind. It was a small group of healthy adults, the bowel-movement result was measured against baseline rather than against the control, and the abstract does not name the date variety. So it says nothing specific about Mazafati. It is still more than the review above found for any commercial detox diet, which had no randomised controlled trials at all.
Fibre, fluid and a daily walk
The NHS advice on constipation is short. Drink plenty of water and other fluids, gradually increase the fibre in your diet, and remember that a daily walk or run can help you go more regularly. The NHS also says you may notice a difference within a few days, and sometimes it takes a few weeks.
On amounts, the NHS page on getting more fibre says UK government guidelines put adult intake at 30g a day, and that high-fibre foods have 6g or more of fibre in every 100g. For dates, the USDA FoodData Central entry for Medjool dates lists 6.7g of dietary fibre per 100g. That figure belongs to Medjool. We have not seen a published fibre figure for Mazafati that we could check, so we won't put a number on it.
Where Mazafati fits
Mazafati, also sold as Rotab Mazafati Bam, comes from Bam in Kerman province, Iran. It is a dark, very soft date with high moisture. In our view that softness is its practical advantage here: people who find drier dates hard to chew are more likely to keep eating a few every day, and the trial above was about daily eating over three weeks, not a one-off.
The same moisture means Mazafati needs refrigeration. It is cold-stored and sold year-round, so a soft rotab outside the harvest months is normal, not a warning sign. Whoever you buy from, Kurma Bam Wholesale included, ask how the stock was kept cold before it reached you, and put it in the fridge once it arrives.
Browse what we carry on our home page, read about cold-chain handling in our date safety guide, or see where Malaysia's kurma comes from. For bulk orders, use contact us.
When to see a doctor
This article is general information, not medical advice. The NHS says to see a GP if constipation is not getting better with treatment, if you are regularly constipated, or if you have blood in your poo or have lost weight without trying. No fruit, however fresh, replaces that.
References
- Klein AV, Kiat H. Detox diets for toxin elimination and weight management: a critical review of the evidence. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2015;28(6):675-86. PMID 25522674
- Eid N, Osmanova H, Natchez C, et al. Impact of palm date consumption on microbiota growth and large intestinal health: a randomised, controlled, cross-over, human intervention study. Br J Nutr. 2015;114(8):1226-36. PMID 26428278
- NHS. Constipation. nhs.uk/conditions/constipation
- NHS. How to get more fibre into your diet. nhs.uk
- USDA FoodData Central. Dates, medjool (FDC ID 168191). fdc.nal.usda.gov