diff --git a/dom/src/main/java/org/apache/james/mime4j/dom/datetime/DateTime.java b/dom/src/main/java/org/apache/james/mime4j/dom/datetime/DateTime.java
index 8391467..e76a82c 100644
--- a/dom/src/main/java/org/apache/james/mime4j/dom/datetime/DateTime.java
+++ b/dom/src/main/java/org/apache/james/mime4j/dom/datetime/DateTime.java
@@ -74,6 +74,10 @@
         return c.getTime();
     }
 
+    public Date asDate() {
+        return DateTime.convertToDate(year, month, day, hour, minute, second, timeZone);
+    }
+
     public Date getDate() {
         return date;
     }