11 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Banana
11 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Banana
Benefits of banana is a new article that shows some amazingly healthy advantages that banana brings to human life. Banana is among the most common fruits in the world.
Native to Southeast Asia, banana is now grown in several warmer regions all over the planet.
There are currently various types of bananas, which vary in shape, size, and color.
Benefits Of Banana – The Best Advantages To Make Use:
Banana brings a lot of goodness to human life and does us many favors in health.
In this article, people will have a chance to learn about some of the greatest reasons for why we should consume more bananas every day.
1. Bananas Are Simple To Be Added Into Your Daily Diet
Banana is not only incredibly healthy, but they are also among the easiest and most convenient snacks around.
Banana makes a great additional item to your breakfast smoothie, cereal, or yogurt. You can also use banana as a replacement for sugar in your cooking and baking.
Moreover, banana rarely contains any pollutants or pesticides, due to its thick protective peel.
Banana is incredibly simple to transport and consume as well. It is often well-tolerated and simple digested, and people just need to peel it off and consume right away without meeting any difficulty.
Nothing would be easier than that. Right?
2. Banana Provides Benefits For Exercise
Banana is usually referred to as an excellent food choice for athletes, majorly because of its abundant contents of easily digested carbohydrates and minerals.
Consuming this fruit can help a lot in reducing exercise-related muscle soreness and cramps, which influence up to 95% of people in the world.
The reason for the cramp is typically unknown.
However, a famous theory blames a mixture of electrolyte and dehydration imbalance.
Nevertheless, researchers have shown mixed findings about muscle cramp and banana. Some find them useful while others find no effect.
It can be said that banana has been exposed to offer great nutritional source before, during, and after endurance exercising.
Bottom Line: Banana can help a lot in reducing muscle cramps due to exercising. It also provides great fuel for endurance exercises.
3. Banana Can Help To Improve Kidney Health
Potassium is very important and necessary for maintaining healthy kidney functions and controlling blood pressure.
As an excellent dietary potassium source, banana could be especially good for us to maintain healthy kidneys.
A research in women exposed that more than three years, those eating banana two or three times per week were 33% less likely to have diseases related to kidneys.
Other researches have discovered that those eating banana four to six times per week are almost 50% less likely to have diseases related to kidneys, compared to those do not consume this fruit.
Bottom Line: Consuming one banana many times per week can help to decrease your risks of kidney disease by half.
4. Unripe Banana Can Help To Increase The Insulin Sensitivity
Insulin resistance is one of the main trigger factors for several most severe health conditions in the world, including type II diabetes.
Many researchers have exposed that 15 to 30 g of resistant starch consumed a day can help in improving the insulin sensitivity by 33% to 50% within just one month.
Unripe banana is very abundant in resistant starch, and may thereby help in improving the insulin sensitivity.
Nevertheless, the reason for these impacts is not well-understood, and not every researcher agrees with this matter.
Bottom Line: Unripe banana is an excellent source of resistant starch, which can help to boost the insulin sensitivity. However, more studies are still necessary.
5. Banana Can Make You Feel More Full
Resistant starch is one type of indigestible carb contained in unripe bananas, which can function sort of like-soluble fiber inside our body.
As a rule of thumb, you may think that the greener the bananas are, the richer the amounts of resistant starch they have.
Meanwhile, a ripe (yellow) banana contains lower levels of total fiber and resistant starch, but proportionally greater levels of soluble fiber.
Both resistant starch and pectin are considered having effects on appetite reduction and make you feel full after having a meal for a longer time period.
6. Banana Contains Powerful Antioxidants
Fruits and veggies are great sources of dietary antioxidants, and banana is not an exception.
It contains many types of potent antioxidants, such as catechins and dopamine.
These antioxidants have been associated with several health advantages, including reduced risks of degenerative diseases and heart disease.
Nevertheless, there is commonly a misunderstanding that the dopamine contained in this fruit can act as a feel-good compound inside the brain.
Actually, the dopamine contained in banana does not cross the barrier between blood and brain. It just can act as a powerful antioxidant instead of mood or alter hormones.
RELATED ARTICLE: If You Eat Unripe Bananas, THIS Will Happen to Your Body!
7. Banana Can Support Heart Health
Potassium is an essential mineral for developing and maintaining heart health, especially for controlling blood pressure levels.
Yet despite the importance of this nutrient, most people still not consume it enough in their daily meals.
Meanwhile, banana is an excellent dietary source of potassium. Just a medium-sized cup of banana (118 g) provides as many as 9% of the RDI.
A diet rich in potassium can help in lowering blood pressure, and those consuming a lot of foods rich in potassium get up to a 27% lower risks of cardiovascular disease.
Moreover, banana contains an excellent amount of magnesium, which is very crucial for heart health as well.
8. Banana Can Aid Weight Loss
No research has tested the influences of banana on weight loss directly. Nevertheless, banana does have a lot of great features that may make them a friendly food to consume for those trying to lose weight.
For beginners, banana contains pretty low levels of calories. A medium-sized banana has just more than 100 calories, yet it is very filling and nutritious.
Banana is also very abundant in fiber. Consuming more fiber from fruits and veggies has repeatedly been associated with weight loss and lower body weight.
Moreover, unripe banana is jam-packed with resistant starch. Thus, it tends to be very filling and could also decrease your appetite.
9. Bananas May Improve Digestive Health
Dietary fiber has been associated with several benefits for healthy, such as improving digestive system.
A medium-size banana provides about 3 g of fiber, making it a pretty beneficial source of fiber.
Banana mainly contains 2 types of fiber:
– Resistant starch: contained in unripe banana.
– Pectin: is decreased as the bananas ripen
Resistant starch can escape the digestion and end up in the large intestine, where it turns to be foods that feed healthy gut bacteria.
In addition, some cell researches indicated that pectin can aid in protecting against colon cancer.
10. Banana Contains Nutrients For Moderating Blood Sugar Levels
Banana is very abundant in a fiber named pectin, giving the flesh of banana its structural form.
Unripe banana contains resistant starch, which can act effectively as soluble fiber and escape the digestive system.
Both resistant starch and pectin can help in moderating blood sugar levels after having any meal, and reducing appetite by slowing the empty stomach.
Moreover, banana ranks low place to medium on the glycemic index as well – a measure (from 0 to 100) of how fast food items can boost the levels of sugar inside the blood.
The unripe banana’s glycemic value is about 30, while ripe banana ranks at the position of 60. The banana’s average value is 51, meaning that banana will not lead to any major spike in the levels of blood sugar in healthy people.
Nevertheless, people with diabetes should not consume this fruit. In fact, they should avoid consuming a lot of well-ripened banana and check out their blood sugar levels carefully whenever they consume banana.
RELATED ARTICLE: See How to Lose Weight Fast With the Japanese Morning Banana Diet
11. Banana Contains A Lot Of Important Nutrients
Banana is extremely tasty and good for our health.
It contains a lot of essential nutrients, and has several advantages for weight loss, heart health, and digestion.
In addition to being extremely nutritious, banana is also a highly convenient item for snack time.
Banana contains a fair level of fiber and many antioxidants as well. A medium-size banana (118 g) may contain:
Fat: 0.4 g.
Protein: 1.3 g.
Fiber: 3.1 g.
Net carbs: 24 g.
Manganese: 14% of the RDI.
Copper: 10% of the RDI.
Magnesium: 8% of the RDI.
Vitamin C: 11% of the RDI.
Vitamin B6: 33% of the RDI.
Potassium: 9% of the RDI.
Every banana just provides about 105 calories, and almost exclusively consists of carbohydrates and water. Banana contains very low levels of protein and little to no fat.
The carbohydrates in green (unripe) bananas mostly consist of resistant starch and starch, but as the banana ripens, the starch would turn into sugar (sucrose, fructose, and glucose).
The article today contains information about 11 benefits of banana proven by science and people should not skip. Read this article carefully to know why we should consume more bananas every day to boost overall health. If you like this article or want to ask anything about it, feel free to leave your comments below!
Author Bio: I’m Huyen My – Writer and Blogger, who has over 5 years of experience in Beauty & Skin Care industry. I work for VKool and AllRemedies – reliable resources assisting people to resolve their health and life issues, as a content coordinator for categories including Health & Beauty. I also focus on fitness, women’s issues, relationship, and lifestyle.