The date palm pollen in this article is the powder from the male flowers of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera. It is not the fruit. A 2024 review describes it as the palm’s male reproductive powder, with a long history of use as a dietary supplement, particularly as an aphrodisiac and fertility aid for men and women (Salhi et al., Metabolites 2024). An earlier version of this page said pollen raises sperm numbers, prevents and cures prostate problems and contains 54% calcium. This update checks those claims against the published studies and keeps only what they report.
This is general information, not medical advice. If you and your partner are trying for a baby, or you are thinking of taking pollen or any other herbal product, talk to a doctor first.
What is in date palm pollen
The same review says the pollen contains estradiol, estriol, estrone, cholesterol, saponins, carbohydrates, fatty acids, tannins and flavonoids. It also notes that no study has yet fully purified and identified gonadotropic hormones from the pollen. Protein content varies a lot between studies, from 15.81% to 38.18%, depending on the palm variety, where it grew, the soil and the climate. For calcium, the review gives 60.5 to 560 mg per 100 g in one Egyptian variety, which is nowhere near the “54% calcium” the old page claimed (full text).
The fruit itself is a different food. USDA FoodData Central lists Medjool dates at 75 g of carbohydrate, 696 mg of potassium, 62 mg of phosphorus and 0.9 mg of iron per 100 g (FDC 168191). None of the sperm studies below gave men the fruit.
The studies in men
A PubMed search on 22 October 2026 for “date palm pollen”, “palm pollen” or “Phoenix dactylifera L. pollen” together with sperm, infertility or fertility, limited to human studies, returned 5 records. Two of them gave pollen to men and measured their sperm. The other three are a review, a review proposal and an allergy study. A third trial, in couples, calls its product a “palm date capsule” and is described after the first two.
In a 2024 randomised trial in Iran, 80 men aged 20 to 35 with low sperm count, poor sperm motility or abnormally shaped sperm took either 6 g of pollen powder a day or 400 mg of the drug pentoxifylline a day for 90 days. The pollen group ended with significantly better sperm concentration, morphology, count and motility than the drug group. The comparison was with a drug, not a placebo, and the trial measured sperm and hormone levels. The abstract does not report pregnancies.
An older study gave 40 infertile men pollen powder in capsules every other day for two months, at 120 mg per kg of body weight. Sperm count, motility and morphology were better at the end than at the start. The abstract describes no comparison group, so it cannot show what would have happened without the pollen.
A 2022 double-blind trial at infertility clinics in Iran enrolled infertile women and their husbands. Its full text says each capsule held 300 mg of pollen from the date palm, the placebo held 300 mg of starch, and 128 participants were randomised, 64 to each group, for 30 days. The men’s questionnaire scores for erectile function, desire and satisfaction rose in the pollen group compared with placebo. This trial measured sexual function, not sperm or pregnancy.
What the reviews conclude
A 2018 systematic review of date palm pollen, pit powder and gemmule extract in male infertility reported positive changes in hormone levels, sperm motility and quality, and the weight of the testes, and said the limited number of studies means more research is needed. A 2020 review of 26 clinical trials on all parts of the date palm found that 80% had performance and detection bias, and concluded there is not enough clinical evidence to support the effects claimed in other reviews and in traditional medicine.
So the honest answer to the title is narrow. In two small studies, pollen was followed by better sperm measurements, one against a drug and one with no control group. No trial in these searches tested whether a couple was more likely to conceive.
Prostate, hormones and libido
The old claim that pollen prevents and cures prostate problems has no human study behind it. A PubMed search for “palm pollen” and the prostate returned 3 records, and all three are studies in rats. One of them gave date palm pollen to castrated rats with an induced prostate condition. Pollen and the comparison treatment, saw palmetto, both reduced inflammation and abnormal cell growth in the tissue but did not reduce prostate weight (Elberry et al., 2011). That is a lab result, not evidence for men.
The libido claim rests on questionnaire scores from the 30-day couples trial above. The old page also said pollen’s estrogen “activates egg production”. The pollen does contain estrogen-type compounds, as listed earlier, but none of the studies here measured egg production in women.
Safety
Breathing allergies are another side of date palm pollen. A 2021 study from Saudi Arabia describes the pollen as an important allergen and found high levels of biogenic amines, including histamine, in pollen samples (Alharbi and Mousa, 2021). The 2022 couples trial reported no side effects over 30 days, but that is one month in 128 people.
The NHS says a common cause of infertility in men is poor-quality semen, such as a low sperm count, sperm that do not move properly or abnormally shaped sperm. It also says around 1 in 7 couples may have difficulty conceiving, and more than 8 out of 10 couples where the woman is under 40 will conceive naturally within a year with regular unprotected sex (NHS, Infertility; NHS, Causes). The NHS lists semen analysis as one of the tests for men, to check for problems such as a low sperm count or sperm that are not moving properly (NHS, Diagnosis).
Our dates are listed on the products page, and you can reach the team through the contact page.
References
- Salhi S, et al. Reproductive enhancement through phytochemical characteristics and biological activities of date palm pollen: a comprehensive review on potential mechanism pathways. Metabolites. 2024;14(3):166. PMID 38535326
- Mirzaei M, et al. Phoenix dactylifera L. pollen versus pentoxifylline on improvement of sperm parameters in idiopathic male infertility: a randomized clinical trial. J Ethnopharmacol. 2024;330:118168. PMID 38604508
- Rasekh A, et al. Effect of palm pollen on sperm parameters of infertile man. Pak J Biol Sci. 2015;18(4):196-9. PMID 26506651
- Jahromi AR, et al. The effect of date palm on sexual function in infertile couples: a double-blind controlled clinical trial. BMC Res Notes. 2022;15(1):55. PMID 35168636
- Tatar T, Akdevelioğlu Y. Effect of pollen, pit powder, and gemmule extract of date palm on male infertility: a systematic review. J Am Coll Nutr. 2018;37(2):154-160. PMID 29087245
- Bagherzadeh Karimi A, et al. Clinical effects of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.): a systematic review on clinical trials. Complement Ther Med. 2020;51:102429. PMID 32507440
- Elberry AA, et al. Anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative activities of date palm pollen (Phoenix dactylifera) on experimentally-induced atypical prostatic hyperplasia in rats. J Inflamm (Lond). 2011;8(1):40. PMID 22195697
- Alharbi AB, Mousa HM. Study of the expected impact of palm pollen on human respiratory tract allergy. Pak J Biol Sci. 2021;24(3):326-334. PMID 34486317
- NHS. Infertility, Infertility: causes and Infertility: diagnosis.
- USDA FoodData Central. Dates, medjool (SR Legacy, FDC 168191). fdc.nal.usda.gov