The claimEvidence D · marketing folklore
Red dates (jujube) build iron and blood
The evidence
Jujube iron is non-heme, low and poorly absorbed; the 'nourish blood' signal is only cell/animal, with no human evidence it corrects iron-deficiency anemia.
The mechanism, in brief
With the first two gates in hand, several widespread folk claims fall apart.
Sources (3)
- Hsu, D. J., Lee, C. W., Tsai, W. C., & Chien, Y. C. (2017). Essential and toxic metals in animal bone broths. Food & Nutrition Research, 61(1), 1347478.
- Chen, J., & Tsim, K. W. K. (2020). A review of edible jujube, the Ziziphus jujuba fruit: a health food supplement for anemia prevalence. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 11, 593655.
- Hurrell, R., & Egli, I. (2010). Iron bioavailability and dietary reference values. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 91(5), 1461S-1467S.