The NHS is plain about how weight loss works. Most adults who need to lose weight, it says, need to do it by eating fewer calories. No single food changes that. What food quality can change is how many calories arrive with each mouthful, and that matters every time you fill a plate.
This article looks at one measure of quality that is easy to check at home: how much energy a food packs into each gram, and how much of it is water. The numbers come from the USDA's FoodData Central database, and the portion sizes come from the NHS.
Same portion count, different calories
The NHS 5 A Day guide sets an adult portion of fresh fruit at 80g. For dried fruit the portion is 30g, which the NHS describes as equivalent to around 80g of fresh fruit. Dates are on its list of dried fruits that count.
So 80g of apple and 30g of Medjool dates both count as one portion. Here is what each brings, worked out from the USDA figures per 100g, with butter biscuits added for comparison:
| Food and amount | Energy | Total sugars | Fibre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple, raw with skin, 80g | 42 kcal | 8.3g | 1.9g |
| Medjool dates, 30g | 83 kcal | 20.0g | 2.0g |
| Butter biscuits, 30g | 140 kcal | 6.1g | 0.2g |
The fibre in the apple and the dates is about the same. The dates carry roughly twice the calories, and the biscuits more than three times the apple's, with almost no fibre at all.
Why water makes the difference
The USDA records give 85.6g of water in 100g of raw apple and 21.3g in 100g of Medjool dates. Less water means more energy in each gram: the same USDA records give 277 kcal per 100g for Medjool against 52 kcal for raw apple.
None of this makes dates a poor food. It means a date portion is easy to overshoot, because 30g is not much to look at. The NHS portion page itself warns that dried fruit can be high in sugar, and it suggests swapping dried fruit for fresh, especially between meals.
Where Medjool fits in a weight-loss week
Medjool originated in Morocco. It is a large, very soft date with a rich caramel taste, which is exactly why it works as a dessert. The NHS says dried fruit is best eaten as part of a meal, as dessert for example, and not as a between-meal snack, to reduce the risk of tooth decay.
A practical way to use the table is to let a 30g serving of Medjool stand in for the biscuit or cake after a meal. Going by the USDA numbers above, that swap saves about 57 kcal compared with the same weight of butter biscuits, and it brings fibre that the biscuits don't. Weigh the 30g a few times on a kitchen scale until you can judge it by eye.
The figures in the table are for Medjool only. The USDA's standard reference data (SR Legacy) has no separate Ajwa record, so don't read these numbers across to other varieties. The 30g portion and the mealtime advice from the NHS apply to any dried fruit, including Ajwa from Madinah, a small, near-black, soft date. Green Diamond has a page on Kurma Ajwa 1 kilo.
Reading quality off a packet
A loose apple has no label to check, but a packet of biscuits does. The NHS recommends around 2,500 calories a day for men and around 2,000 for women. It also says most adults in the UK are eating more calories than they need. Sugary foods and drinks, it says, are often high in energy and can contribute to weight gain if eaten too often. A quick look at the calories per 100g on a pack, set against the table above, shows where a snack sits.
If you're buying dates, this site's about page covers retail and wholesale buying with delivery across the country. The contact page gives the WhatsApp number, and the about page lists it for questions, quotes and orders.
This is general information based on NHS and USDA sources, not medical advice. If you're worried about your weight, the NHS suggests asking your GP or a dietitian for advice.