You have probably heard about the potential health benefits of eating bananas. At WebMD, Regina Boyle Wheeler discusses the fruit, writing:
This nifty yellow fruit is touted as the first “superfood.” It’s packed with fiber to make you feel full and vitamins that do your body good. Americans go bananas for them. They eat more than 27 pounds a year — about 90 bananas. That’s more than oranges and apples combined.
One large banana is about 8- to 9-inches long and equal to one serving of fruit. It has about 120 calories and 490 milligrams of potassium. That’s 19% of a woman’s daily potassium needs and 15% of a man’s. This nutrient can remove sodium from your body and relax blood vessel walls, which helps manage blood pressure. The golden fruit is also a good source of vitamin B6, which is essential for your immune system, nervous system, and brain.
Even green bananas might contain some health benefits. A study performed by researchers in Brazil studied green bananas and concluded:
Overall, the studies showed the health benefits using green banana products, most of them related to the gastrointestinal symptoms/diseases, followed by the glycemic/insulin metabolism, weight control, and renal and liver complications associated to diabetes, most of the studies using green banana flour. The children group studies showed that green banana pulp influenced both diarrhea and constipation improvement. In healthy adults’ group, GBF increased satiety and influenced glucose homeostasis, as same as the GBP and GB starch. Considering type 2 diabetes adults, studies showed a reduction of body weight and increase insulin sensitivity with GBF consumption. Among overweight women, GBF consumption improved anthropometric (weight and body composition), lipid profile, and inflammatory parameters. However, there is no standardization regarding dose/effect to different age groups and different health effects considering the variety of the green banana, and the ripeness level. It is also important to emphasize that few studies well characterize the chemical composition of the green banana product used. Further studies are relevant to evaluate if the health effects of green banana products remain when used as an ingredient of a potential “functional food” after the production of the food product.
Therefore, it is essential to present better detailing of the GB product associated with their health effects considering all of the raw-material characteristics, including production, storage, dose-response, and chemical characteristics. Considering the relationship between diet, environmental, economy, sustainability, and human health, the possibility of reduction of banana production waste/lost can probably present a significant impact on health. In addition to the GB, other nonconventional food from the banana production can be explored, aiming to reduce the environmental damage and improving the sustainability, contributing to the nutritional quality of the diet and reducing the hunger to a low-income population.
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