Bananas Nutrition - The B group of vitamins

The B group of vitamins have a critical role in energy metabolism and are involved in many enzyme processes. For example niacin is needed for muscle energy production and folate is needed for the making of new cells such as red blood cells (1 p 188).

 Bananas contain the essential B group vitamins thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, folate and vitamin B6. The banana is the best fruit source of vitamin B6 (one medium banana provides about 15% of your daily needs) in an easy-to-absorb form (8). Vitamin B6 is needed for normal amino acid and protein metabolism and is involved in the production of neurotransmitters including serotonin and GABA. About half of the B6 in the body is associated with energy production in the muscles (1 p 190-1).

 Vitamin B6 has been of interest to researchers in recent years as its role has become better understood. Population research shows that adequate vitamin B6 consumption is linked to a better chance of conception and pregnancy outcome in women and a lower risk of bowel cancer (7, 10). Vitamin B6 needs rise after your 50th birthday, as well as during pregnancy and breastfeeding to meet the needs of the baby (9).There has been suspicion that older people may not be getting enough B6 through their diet either through not eating enough or due to a reduced absorption from the intestines. There is increasing evidence that B6 plays an important role in lowering the risk of bowel cancer (10, 11).

 One medium banana will provide around 12% of your daily needs of folate (2010 independent analysis), an important B vitamin during pregnancy. Eating enough folate during pregnancy protects the baby from spinal malformations such as spina bifida (9 p 248). The banana provides more folate than any other commonly eaten fruit (12). A medium banana also offers around 5% of your daily needs of thiamin, niacin, riboflavin and pantothenic acid.

 The advantage of the banana is that it is soft and easy to peel and eat, so it becomes the ideal fruit for people with arthritis or missing teeth, as well as being perfect when introducing solids to infants.

 References: 1. Mann J & Truswell AS. Essentials of Human Nutrition 3rd edition. Oxford University Press 2007 7. Ronnenberg AG, Venners SA, Xu X, Chen C, Wang L, Guang W, Huang A, Wang X. Preconception B-vitamin and homocysteine status, conception, and early pregnancy loss. American Journal of Epidemiology 2007; 166 (3): 304-312 8. Roth-Maier DA, Kettler SI, Kirchgessner M. Availability of vitamin B6 from different food sources. International Journal of Food Sciences & Nutrition 2002; 53: 171-179 9. Commonwealth of Australia 2006.
Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand 10. Theodoratou E, Farrington SM, Tenesa A, McNeill G, Cetnarskyj R, Barnetson RA, Porteous ME, Dunlop MG, Campbell H. Dietary vitamin B6 intake and the risk of colorectal cancer. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers 2008; 17
(1): 171-182 11. Larrson SC, Orsini N, Wolk A. Vitamin B6 and risk of colorectal cancer. A meta-analysis of prospective studies. Journal of the American Medical Association 2010; 303 (11); 1077-1083 12. NUTTAB 2010 Online Searchable Database. Food Standard Australia New Zealand.
Source:http://www.australianbananas.com.au/

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[Picking] Harvesting a banana crop

Harvesting a banana crop is the perfect job if you like working outdoors, enjoy physical work and don’t mind getting very wet, very often, during the wet season from November to March. During the dry season from April to October the weather for pickers is much better.

 Picking crews of around 4-6 strong fit people, take a tractor, with a special trailer, between the rows of bananas looking for mature bunches. The trailer is specially designed to give the newly harvested bunches of bananas as much protection as possible from bruising and consequent markings. Padding is used to prevent this type of damage happening.

 Different coloured bunch covers are used to assist the pickers. At any time they will be predominantly looking for bags with the same coloured stripes. Firstly it’s a quick check under the bag to ensure the bunch is at the correct level of maturity.

 Secondly, two members of a team will work together to pick the bunch from the banana plant One will pull the bunch towards their shoulder, to hold it and the other will put a nick in the stem of the plant. This allows the plant to be bent over, so the bunch can rest fully on the picker’s shoulder. Then a swift slash with a machete removes the bunch from the plant and it is loaded on the trailer between the padded sheets to protect the fruit.

 Much care and attention is shown during the harvesting process. It’s velvet glove treatment all the way from here. Taking care during banana picking is a constant challenge, considering these bunches generally weigh around 35 to 50 kilograms. Note that much heavier bunches have been recorded, with the world record in excess of 100 kilograms.

 As each plant stem only produces one bunch, once that bunch is harvested, the stem of the parent plant is chopped down and becomes organic matter for the next crop. The follower (sucker), which is already partially grown becomes the new parent plant, which will produce the next bunch in 8-12 months time. Meanwhile the harvested bunches are on their way to the packing shed where there are many more hands to help get these bananas into your fruit bowl.

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