Superabundant date fruit production in Al-Qassim in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), a plentiful region for producing date syrup resulting in massive amounts of date fiber (DF), causes environmental issues with what is considered dietary waste. However, no food producer or researcher has thought of the valorization of DF by extracting the crude polysaccharides that can be converted to nanoparticles (flours) to increase its functional group and enhance its functionality. Using the DF was the primary goal, with the new biscuits used within the current study investigated as a potent integrated approach for controlling obesity levels and its effects. Obesity is one of the most important human problems worldwide, connected to many metabolic diseases, e.g., diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Its prevalence has recently increased among Saudi children and adolescents. An investigation of the biological effects of the formulated products was carried out by feeding the formulated biscuits with different DF levels (5, 10 and 15%) to obese albino rats, in addition to positive and negative control groups, to evaluate the effect of a reduced calorie product on controlling their body weight and health stats (lipid profile, blood sugars, kidney and liver functions). The collected data showed that the most positive results were obtained from rats fed diets supplemented with 10% DF biscuits. All TCHO, TrGs, HDL, and HDL were decreased to the best levels in this group compared to the positive control group (148.23, 145.30, 37.50, and 81.67 vs. 238.37, 199.07, 62.57, and 135.99, respectively). To conclude, DF supplementation presented anti-obesity properties in animal models; however, more epidemiological trials are needed.
Keywords: body weight; by-products; date powder; lipid profile.