OK, so why dates?
They, as well as pomegranate, stimulate the production of paraoxynase-1, or PON1. This enzyme is related also to hdl but basically its some good sh1t, as it limits the oxidation of ldl, which is some bad sh1t. There's other good stuff going on too but it's Cliff-noted here:
Pomegranates and dates are delicious, increasingly trendy, and healthy to boot. As it turns out, when consumed together they are a winning combination in the war against heart disease. The researchers conclude that people at high risk for cardiovascular diseases, as well as healthy individuals...
www.sciencedaily.com
Hydrolysable tannin polyphenols in pomegranate and phenolic acids in date fruit and seeds are potent antioxidants and anti-atherogenic agents, and thus, in the present study we investigated the possible benefits of combining them in vivo in atherosclerotic apolipoprotein E KO (E(0)) mice...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov