Bananas Nutrition - Fiber in bananas

We all know that high fibre foods help keep you regular and prevent constipation, as well as protecting your intestines from diverticula disease and haemorrhoids. Virtually all studies of diet and bowel cancer show a lower risk in those eating the most fruit and vegetables (9 p255).
Sadly, only one in four adults is getting enough fibre to keep their insides healthy (14). A medium banana has 2.7g of fibre, about 10% of your fibre needs for the day (9, 12).

 If you have constipation, bananas included in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, without resorting to laxatives. The banana is an excellent way to get fibre into the diet of a toddler, an older person, or anyone who is not too keen on having to chew foods. You may not be familiar with the term ‘resistant starch’. This is starch that resists digestion and goes all the way through the small intestine and passes into the large intestine to act very much like fibre. Bananas have resistant starch.

There is more resistant starch in just ripe bananas than found in very ripe bananas. Resistant starch offers many health benefits to us because when it enters the large bowel it is eaten up and used as a fuel by the friendly bacteria that live there. The bacteria then produce compounds that help protect the bowel from future cancer, while also having a mild laxative effect. Resistant starch that passes into the large bowel may be used by the bacteria to produce gas, and this may explain why eating one or two green bananas, high in resistant starch, can give some people a bloated feeling (15).

 As a banana ripens, the starch (including resistant starch) is transformed into sugars, making the banana softer and sweeter, just how most people enjoy them (16, 17). Adding a banana sandwich, made with wholemeal bread, will provide about 8g of fibre, which is over a quarter of your daily needs (9).

 References: 09. Commonwealth of Australia 2006. Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand 12. NUTTAB 2010 Online Searchable Database. Food Standard Australia New Zealand 14. National Nutrition Survey. Nutrient Intakes and Physical Measurements. Australian Bureau of Statistics 1995 15. Cummings JH, Beatty ER, Kingman SM, Bingham SA, Englyst HN. Digestion and physiological properties of resistant starch in the human large bowel. British Journal of Nutrition 1996; 75: 733-747 16. Cordenunsi BR, Lajolo FM. Starch breakdown during banana ripening: sucrose synthase and sucrose phosphate synthase. J Agric Food Chem 1995; 43: 347-351 17. Pennington JAT, Douglass JS. Bowes and Church’s Food Values of Portions Commonly Used 18th edition Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins 2005
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Bananas Nutrition - Carbohydrate

Foods comprise protein, fat and carbohydrate. It is the carbohydrate part of food that gets digested and absorbed as glucose, a type of sugar. This glucose is stored in the liver and muscles to be used as an energy source, especially for muscle contraction during sport, exercise and daily chores. That is why the banana is such a favourite with athletes and active people. The carbohydrate in a banana becomes glucose in the blood providing muscle energy for longer.

The carbohydrate in a banana will also help replace muscle fuel stores after exercise and that makes them a great recovery food. As they are easy to peel and easy to eat, you can see why they are popular with gardeners, bushwalkers, cricketers, cyclists and tennis players who need a sustained energy infusion. Wholesome carbohydrate sources also help keep blood sugar levels normal. If you feel a bit jaded mid-afternoon it could be because your blood sugar levels are beginning to fall.
Don’t go for a biscuit or cake as they usually provide saturated fats and salt; go for the fat-free pick-me-up called the banana. The natural sugars in the banana will help bring your blood sugars back up to normal and get you through the mid-afternoon slump. As bananas taste sweet, some people worry that it may be causing their blood sugars to rise too high, especially if they have diabetes.

They should not be alarmed. The Glycaemic Index is a measure of how much and how quickly blood sugar levels rise after eating a food. The average Glycemic Index of bananas is 52, less for under-ripe bananas as they have a higher starch content and a lower sugar content (13). A GI of 52 is classified as low, meaning that it doesn’t cause high blood sugar levels. That makes the banana a good fruit choice for people with diabetes. Of course, if you have diabetes, get your overall diet checked by an Accredited Practising Dietitian.

 References: 12. NUTTAB 2010 Online Searchable Database. Food Standard Australia New Zealand 13. Atkinson, F.S., K. Foster-Powell, J.C. Brand-Miller 2008. International Tables of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Values: 2008. Diabetes Care 2008; 31(12)
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Banana's Nutriton - Antioxidants

Antioxidants are believed to be playing a role in reducing the risk of succumbing to early disease, such as heart disease, and some cancers (1).

 It is thought that antioxidants absorb and neutralise dangerous free-radicals, factors that seem to cause the body to ‘oxidise’, or age, quickly. Although the body produces antioxidants of its own, it seems to benefit from the extra antioxidants provided in the diet, especially from whole grains, vegetables, mushrooms and fruits. This is still an emerging science, but the evidence suggests that the banana is a key player in keeping us healthy. Two published research papers confirmed that bananas have significant antioxidant power. One study showed that bananas reduced the oxidative stress in the blood and reduced the ability of LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) to be damaging (2).
 The prevailing view is that oxidised LDL plays a major role in the formation of plaques that tend to clog the arteries and lead to heart disease, so anything that reduces this risk is good news. Another study showed the antioxidant compounds in bananas helped protect nerve cells, which in turn could help protect the brain from Alzheimer’s Disease (3). Eating bananas also seems to help the body increase its own antioxidant production to keep it healthy (4). Apart from their natural antioxidants, bananas contain other compounds called lectins, which have been strongly linked to a reduction in the risk of cancer and potentially helpful in the treatment of cancer (5).
Plant lectins are known to resist digestion and enter the blood stream intact. They can affect the growth and proliferation of cancer cells, and even cause their ultimate death. Research on 61,000 Swedish women found that, of all the fruits, bananas gave the greatest protection against renal cancer (6). Although all fruits and vegetables helped lower renal cancer risk, it was the banana that stood out. Women eating five bananas a week nearly halved their risk of renal cancer. No-one is sure why this is so, but it may be that the antioxidants and lectins in bananas are exerting an influence.


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