Bananas: Health benefits and hidden dangers revealed

We eat bananas eagerly—and we are not making a mistake. However, before we reach for this nutritious snack, it's worth knowing which bananas are best for us and which are the worst. Did you know that some of them even contain toxins?

We should look at this number optimistically: bananas are very healthy fruits, and if we can use their nutritional properties, eating them regularly will only benefit us. What do we mean by such "skill"? Of course, we are talking about being aware that even healthy foods can harm us under certain circumstances.

Bananas are a fantastic source of vitamins A and C, fibre, potassium (especially this mineral), and phytosterols. This means that regular consumption of these fruits protects us from atherosclerosis, supports muscles and immunity, and, in certain conditions, even helps us lose unwanted pounds. The important issue here is the relationship between fibre and sugar. However, bananas contain quite a lot of sucrose, glucose, and fructose, and fibre slows their absorption and prevents blood sugar levels from fluctuating. This means that eating bananas creates a mechanism that prevents overweight.

The devil, as usual, is in the details. Dietitians urge not to eat bananas on an empty stomach. Although they are excellent snacks, they should not be our breakfast because they contain too little protein and fat and increase the already high morning cortisol level. We wrote more about this in another article.

The ripening process of bananas plays a very important role. The "older" the fruit, the less fibre it contains, so the effect of the sugar it contains becomes stronger and more pronounced—which is also bad for our figure. A browning peel is not, of course, a sign of spoilage, and the fruit itself that turns this colour (through the fermentation process) even has a higher concentration of some health values, including vitamin B6.

So, which bananas should we avoid? The unripe ones. It's not just about their taste and micro and macronutrient content but about the ripening mechanism. It's worth knowing that harmful toxins present in bananas are naturally neutralized during the ripening process. Green fruits have not yet gone through this path, and it’s simply better not to eat them.