There are two ways to ask whether the paleo diet is healthy. One is what happens to people who follow it in a trial. The other is whether you can keep eating that way week after week. This piece takes them in that order, and ends with where a soft date such as Mazafati sits on the plate.
What a paleo plate holds
In a 2009 crossover study from Lund University, Jönsson and colleagues told 13 patients (10 men and 3 women) to eat a paleo diet built on lean meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, root vegetables, eggs and nuts for three months. For another three months, the same patients ate a diet designed around dietary guidelines. Their weighed food records showed what changed. On the paleo diet they ate fewer cereals and dairy products, more fruit, vegetables, meat and eggs, and less calcium, with more unsaturated fat and several vitamins.
The NHS Eatwell Guide sets a different balance. Starchy foods such as potatoes, bread, rice and pasta should make up just over a third of what we eat, and fruit and vegetables just over a third. It keeps a place for dairy or alternatives as an important source of calcium. Our post on building a healthy lunch walks through the plate model from Malaysia's Ministry of Health.
What the pooled trials found
A review published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition (Bahrami and colleagues, 2025) combined 19 randomised trials and 12 cohort studies. Across the trials, people on the paleo diet lost about 1.7 kg more body weight and their body mass index fell by about 1.1 more. In the cohort studies, which follow people rather than assign them a diet, those who stuck most closely to a paleo pattern had a 10% lower risk of dying from any cause. The authors' own conclusion is careful: the diet "may provide" benefits and "potentially" lowers the risk of chronic disease.
What two years looked like
Researchers at Umeå University in Sweden ran a two-year trial. They randomised 70 healthy postmenopausal women with obesity to a paleo diet or a healthy control diet based on the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, and neither group had a calorie limit. The paleo group was on average 11% lighter than at the start after six months and 10% lighter after two years. The control group lost 6% at both points. The paleo group came out ahead both times, but the gap was smaller at two years.
Can you stick with it?
The Jönsson group also asked its 13 patients how each diet felt. They reported feeling equally full on both, and the paleo diet was more filling per calorie. In a survey after each diet, the participants' comments were mostly positive for both diets. On the paleo diet, though, there were significantly more comments about losing weight, and also about finding the diet hard to stick to. With 13 people, that is a small signal, but it is the honest catch. A diet with no rice, bread, noodles or milk is a big change for anyone who eats them daily.
Where Mazafati dates sit
The paleo diet in Jönsson's study listed fruit without naming types, so dates fit under fruit. Mazafati comes from Bam in Kerman province, Iran. It is dark and very soft with a lot of moisture, and it needs to be kept in the fridge. It is cold-stored and sold year-round, so it is not a seasonal treat. One brand's Mazafati label in USDA FoodData Central lists 285 kcal, 65 g of total sugars and 7 g of fibre per 100 g.
With that much sugar, portion matters. The NHS counts 30 g of dried fruit, dates included, as one of your 5 A Day. It says to eat it at mealtimes rather than between meals, to reduce the risk of tooth decay. On a paleo day, that could mean a couple of chilled Mazafati after a fish and vegetable lunch. It does not mean a bowl of them in front of the television.
The short answer
In the trials, paleo eaters lost a little more weight than the comparison groups, and in the two-year trial the paleo group kept a smaller lead. The plan removes whole food groups that the NHS counts on for starch, fibre and calcium, and in a survey some of its trial volunteers said it was hard to stick to. If you like the parts it shares with the Eatwell Guide, more fruit, vegetables and fish, you can keep those without giving up rice.
This is general food information, not medical advice. Anyone with a health condition should talk to a doctor before a big change to their diet.
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