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Bananas
Nutritional Profile
Energy value (calories per serving): Moderate
Protein: Low
Fat: Low

Saturated fat: Low

Cholesterol: None
Carbohydrates: High

Fiber: Moderate
Sodium: Low
Major vitamin contribution: B vitamins, vitamin C
Major mineral contribution: Potassium, magnesium

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About the Nutrients in This Food

A banana begins life with more starch than sugar, but as the fruit ripens
its starches turn to sugar, which is why ripe bananas taste so much better
than unripe ones. The color of a bananas skin is a fair guide to its starch/
sugar ratio. When the skin is yellow-green, 40 percent of its carbohydrates
are starch; when the skin is fully yellow and the banana is ripe, only 8 percent of the carbohydrates are still starch. The rest (91 percent) have broken
down into sugarsglucose, fructose, sucrose, the most plentiful sugar in
the fruit. Its high sugar content makes the banana, in its self-contained
packet, a handy energy source.
Bananas are a high-fiber food with insoluble cellulose and lignin in
the tiny seeds and soluble pectins in the flesh. They are also a good source
of vitamin C and potassium.
One small (six-inch) banana or a half-cup of sliced banana has 2.6 g
dietary fiber and 8.8 mg vitamin C (12 percent of the RDA for a woman,
10 percent of the RDA for a man), plus 363 mg potassium.

The Most Nutritious Way to Serve This Food

Fresh and ripe. Green bananas contain antinutrients, proteins that inhibit
the actions of amylase, an enzyme that makes it possible for us to digest
They are also more healthful. Green bananas contain proteins that inhibit amylase, an enzyme that makes it possible for us to digest complex carbohydrates.
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Bananas
starch and other complex carbohydrates. Raw bananas are richer in potassium than cooked
bananas; heating depletes potassium.

Diets That May Restrict or Exclude This Food

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Buying This Food

Look for: Bananas that will be good when you plan to eat them. Bananas with brown
specks on the skin are ripe enough to eat immediately. Bananas with creamy yellow skin
will be ready in a day or two. Bananas with mostly yellow skin and a touch of green at either
end can be ripened at home and used in two or three days.
Avoid: Overripe bananas whose skin has turned brown or split open. A grayish yellow skin
means that the fruit has been damaged by cold storage. Bananas with soft spots under the
skin may be rotten.

Storing This Food

Store bananas that arent fully ripe at room temperature for a day or two. Like avocados,
bananas are picked green, shipped hard to protect them from damage en route and then
sprayed with ethylene gas to ripen them quickly. Untreated bananas release ethylene naturally to ripen the fruit and turn its starches to sugar, but natural ripening takes time. Artificial
ripening happens so quickly that there is no time for the starches to turn into sugar. The
bananas look ripe but they may taste bland and starchy. A few days at room temperature
will give the starches a chance to change into sugars.
Store ripe bananas in the refrigerator. The cold air will slow (but not stop) the natural
enzyme action that ripens and eventually rots the fruit if you leave it at room temperature.
Cold storage will darken the bananas skin, since the chill damages cells in the peel and
releases polyphenoloxidase, an enzyme that converts phenols in the banana peel to dark
brown compounds, but the fruit inside will remain pale and tasty for several days.

Preparing This Food

Do not slice or peel bananas until you are ready to use them. When you cut into the fruit,
you tear its cell walls, releasing polyphenoloxidase, an enzyme that hastens the oxidation of
phenols in the banana, producing brown pigments that darken the fruit. (Chilling a banana
produces the same reaction because the cold damages cells in the banana peel.) You can
slow the browning (but not stop it completely) by dipping raw sliced or peeled bananas into
a solution of lemon juice or vinegar and water or by mixing the slices with citrus fruits in
a fruit salad. Overripe, discolored bananas can be used in baking, where the color doesnt
matter and their intense sweetness is an asset.

What Happens When You Cook This Food

When bananas are broiled or fried, they are cooked so quickly that there is very little change
in color or texture. Even so, they will probably taste sweeter and have a more intense aroma
than uncooked bananas. Heat liberates the volatile molecules that make the fruit taste and
smell good.

How Other Kinds of Processing Affect This Food

Drying. Drying removes water and concentrates the nutrients and calories in bananas.
Bananas may be treated with compounds such as sulfur dioxide to inhibit polyphenoloxidase and keep the bananas from browning as they dry. People who are sensitive to sulfites
may suffer severe allergic reactions, including anaphylactic shock, if they eat these treated
bananas.
Freezing. Fresh bananas freeze well but will brown if you try to thaw them at room temperature. To protect the creamy color, thaw frozen bananas in the refrigerator and use as
quickly as possible.

Medical Uses and/or Benefits

Lower risk of stroke. Various nutrition studies have attested to the power of adequate
potassium to keep blood pressure within safe levels. For example, in the 1990s, data from
the long-running Harvard School of Public Health/Health Professionals Follow-Up Study of
male doctors showed that a diet rich in high-potassium foods such as bananas, oranges, and
plantain may reduce the risk of stroke. In the study, the men who ate the higher number
of potassium-rich foods (an average of nine servings a day) had a risk of stroke 38 percent
lower than that of men who consumed fewer than four servings a day. In 2008, a similar
survey at the Queens Medical Center (Honolulu) showed a similar protective effect among
men and women using diuretic drugs (medicines that increase urination and thus the loss
of potassium).
Improved mood. Bananas and plantains are both rich in serotonin, dopamine, and other
natural mood-elevating neurotransmittersnatural chemicals that facilitate the transmission of impulses along nerve cells.
Potassium benefits. Because potassium is excreted in urine, potassium-rich foods are often
recommended for people taking diuretics. In addition, a diet rich in potassium (from food)
is associated with a lower risk of stroke. A 1998 Harvard School of Public Health analysis
of data from the long-running Health Professionals Study shows 38 percent fewer strokes
among men who ate nine servings of high potassium foods a day vs. those who ate less
than four servings. Among men with high blood pressure, taking a daily 1,000 mg potassium supplementabout the amount of potassium in one bananareduced the incidence of
stroke by 60 percent.

Bananas

Adverse Effects Associated with This Food

Digestive Problems. Unripe bananas contain proteins that inhibit the actions of amylase, an
enzyme required to digest starch and other complex carbohydrates.
Sulfite allergies. See How other kinds of processing affect this food.
Latex-fruit syndrome. Latex is a milky fluid obtained from the rubber tree and used to make
medical and surgical products such as condoms and protective latex gloves, as well as rubber bands, balloons, and toys; elastic used in clothing; pacifiers and baby bottle-nipples;
chewing gum; and various adhesives. Some of the proteins in latex are allergenic, known
to cause reactions ranging from mild to potentially life-threatening. Some of the proteins
found naturally in latex also occur naturally in foods from plants such as avocados, bananas,
chestnuts, kiwi fruit, tomatoes, and food and diet sodas sweetened with aspartame. Persons
sensitive to these foods are likely to be sensitive to latex as well. Note: The National Institute of Health Sciences, in Japan, also lists the following foods as suspect: Almonds, apples,
apricots, bamboo shoots, bell peppers, buckwheat, cantaloupe, carrots, celery, cherries,
chestnuts, coconut, figs, grapefruit, lettuce, loquat, mangoes, mushrooms, mustard, nectarines, oranges, passion fruit, papaya, peaches, peanuts, peppermint, pineapples, potatoes,
soybeans, strawberries, walnuts, and watermelon.

Food/Drug Interactions
Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors are drugs used to treat
depression. They inactivate naturally occurring enzymes in your body that metabolize tyramine, a substance found in many fermented or aged foods. Tyramine constricts blood vessels
and increases blood pressure. If you eat a food containing tyramine while you are taking an
MAO inhibitor, you cannot effectively eliminate the tyramine from your body. The result
may be a hypertensive crisis. There have been some reports in the past of such reactions in
people who have eaten rotten bananas or bananas stewed with the peel.
False-positive test for tumors. Carcinoid tumorswhich may arise from tissues of the endocrine system, the intestines, or the lungssecrete serotonin, a natural chemical that makes
blood vessels expand or contract. Because serotonin is excreted in urine, these tumors are
diagnosed by measuring the levels of serotonin by-products in the urine. Bananas contain
large amounts of serotonin; eating them in the three days before a test for an endocrine
tumor might produce a false-positive result, suggesting that you have the tumor when in
fact you dont. (Other foods high in serotonin are avocados, eggplant, pineapple, plums,
tomatoes, and walnuts.)