The effect of date seed suspension on reduction of severity and duration of diarrhea in pediatrics with gastroenteritis: A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial

Acute gastroenteritis in children is a major cause of morbidity in the world. This study investigated the effect of suspension prepared from date seed in reducing the severity and duration of diarrhea in gastroenteritis pediatrics.

Participants in this clinical trial study comprised 140 gastroenteritis pediatrics referred to Abuzar Children’s Hospital in Ahvaz. Eligible patients were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The intervention group was given 5% date seed suspension in the amount of 12 mg/kg of body weight orally once every 8 hours for 7 days; the control group was administered a placebo three times a day. Then the two groups were compared for severity and duration of diarrhea as well as stool volume.

The duration and severity of diarrhea were significantly less in children in the intervention group than in the control group (p<0.05). The mean duration of diarrhea in the intervention and control groups was 3.508±1.102 and 4.680±4.001 days, respectively. The mean severity of diarrhea, decreased at 24 hours (2.0857±0.607; 1.8571±0.747), 48 hours (1.7429±0.695; 1.2571±0.695), 72 hours (1.1000±0.695; 0.7857±0.814), and 96 hours (0.5429±0.629; 0.4143±0.577) after the intervention and was lower in the intervention group than the control group, and the difference between the two groups was significant (p=0.001). Moreover, stool consistency was higher in the intervention group than in the control group after the consumption of date seed suspension (p<0.05).

Our results confirm the effectiveness of the herbal medicine prepared from date seed waste for control and treatment of gastroenteritis.