The Level of Knowledge and Practices on Dates among Students from Health Sciences and Islamic Studies Background

The practice of eating dates is common among malaysians. however, the level of knowledge and consumption practice on dates among the population in this country is still not much studied. a cross-sectional study was conducted on 207 final year undergraduates from universiti sains malaysia (usm) and 96 final year undergraduate students from kolej islam antarabangsa sultan ismail petra (kias). the objective of this study was to compare the level of knowledge and practices on dates among students from health sciences (usm) and islamic studies background (kias). the information on knowledge and practices of dates consumption among the respondents was obtained using a questionnaire. results showed that most students from islamic studies (94.8%) and health sciences (81.6%) background had a good level of knowledge on dates. the practices of eating dates on daily during the previous month of ramadan was high among students in islamic education (84.4%) and health sciences (80.7%). however, the practice of daily dates consumption every day outside ramadan was low at only 15.6% among islamic studies and 6.8% health sciences students. the sweet taste was the primary factor on the main reason why dates were not regularly consumed among the two groups of students. in conclusion, the level of knowledge and practice of dates consumption among students in islamic studies are better than students in health sciences. however, the practice of consuming dates outside the month of ramadan was still low for both groups. there ought to be more campaigns to promote the consumption of dates amongst the communities in this country as dates contain high nutrients and it is also a favorite food of the prophet.