Now, some people will ask why it is that we can have dates, if they contain a disaccharide. This is where the word "Specific", as in Specific Carbohydrate Diet™, is important. Sucrose occurs naturally in some of our foods, but that's not the same thing as eating refined sucrose from dates. When you eat a whole date, the other constituents of the date, including the fibre, mitigate how it is digested. SCD™ is evidence based (to quote Colleen again), and evidence has shown that some carbs are tolerated (by the majority - there are always exceptions) and some are not. We can tolerate cellulose in fruits and vegetable, and a small amount is allowed in meds and supps because it's almost impossible to avoid, but we don't use 'cellulose' as a stand alone ingredient or product. We can tolerate pectin in apples, but we don't use it as an added ingredient... and the list goes on.

Last year, a listmember wrote to a company about their date sugar (and I'm sorry.. I can't remember who it was, or which company they wrote to). An employee of the company wrote back assuring the listmember that their product was 100% pure dates, and that the main constituent of the date sugar was sucrose.... If you eat a date, the main constituent is NOT sucrose, which is why we tolerate them. Changing the predominant ingredient through the process of refinement, makes date sugar a very problematic product for SCD™ers.

So, some people who have been on the diet for a while, and whose symptoms are under control, may choose to use a bit of date sugar, but it's not recommended, and most certainly not recommended for newbies. I've been on SCD™ for 17 months now, and I've never tasted date sugar... nor have I felt its lack or impact on the quality and variety of what I eat. It's just not necessary. Why not stick to good old legal bee sweat...

From the LI listserve