Banana nutrition, like all fruit nutrition, is a healthy and tasty part of a wholesome diet. Sweet, delicious and available year round, bananas feature a soft consistency, which makes it a suitable food for babies, as well as for those who experience difficulties chewing. While most other fruits do not fully ripen after they are harvested, the banana is an exception since it continues to fully ripen and develop useful sugars even after it has been removed from the tree.
Banana Nutritional Benefits
Because it is such a rich source of potassium, banana nutrition is widely recommended for optimal health. The fiber it provides also helps in maintaining healthy blood pressure and assisting in proper heart functioning. However, the fruit nutrition featured in bananas goes much further than being simply a good source of potassium and fiber. Bananas are also high in:
- Vitamin C
- Manganese
- Vitamin B6
Banana Health Benefits
Banana nutrition facts show that those who consume diets high in potassium, magnesium and fiber lower their risk of a stroke significantly more than those who ignore fruit nutrition altogether. The fiber content contained in bananas also helps to:
- Reduce cardiovascular disease
- Reduce coronary heart disease
- Increase good bone health
- Promote good vision
- Reduce calcium loss in urine
- Reduce the risk of certain forms of cancer
Further banana nutrition facts show that this tasty fruit also protects the stomach from developing ulcers and from associated damage from ulcers already present. Bananas naturally help the stomach form a thick, protective barrier in the lining of the stomach, which keep acids from permeating. Also, bananas contain protease inhibitors, which rid the stomach of the bacteria that causes ulcers.
Banana nutrition is also quite useful in natural cures and home remedies as they help to:
- Stop coughs
- Control diarrhea
- Burn fat
- Control asthma
- Control hypertension
- Control fluid retention
- Ease constipation
- Cure hemorrhoids
Precaution
Unfortunately, much of the fruit commercially sold has been picked before it is ripe. Most fruits will continue to ripen after harvesting, but fall short of ever becoming fully ripe. Although bananas are an exception and continue to fully ripen after they have been harvested, their consumption should be avoided before this time due to the high starch content contained in unripe fruit. Eating before fully ripened makes banana nutrition difficult to digest and can even cause nausea. Bananas should not be eaten before all parts of its skin have turned yellow and there is no evidence of green on its surface.
Those with latex sensitivities should also be advised that bananas might trigger an allergic reaction. People in this category, who would still like to partake of banana nutrition and its benefits are advised to seek organic versions of the fruit, which are not processed with ethylene gas believed to increase the enzymes that cause a reaction. Also, cooking foods, such as bananas, may also deactivate its enzymes.
Fruit nutrition is part of the earliest diet known to mankind. When properly grown and harvested at the right time, banana nutrition offers a high quality source of potassium, fiber, manganese, and key vitamins, such as vitamins B6 and C. Those who suffer from conditions due to a deficiency of any of these are highly encouraged to try banana nutrition, as well as other fruit nutrition strategies, since natural cures and home remedies are the safest, least toxic ways to restore good health.