The shade of your banana – green, yellow or almost completely brown – gives you an idea of what it will taste like and whether you will have to pick a lot of threads from your banana. But how ripe your banana is also determines how your body processes the fruit and what effect it has on your health. Hilde De Geeter from the NICE nutrition center explains.
“When you buy a banana in the store, it is usually a bit greener,” begins Hilde De Geeter, coordinator of the NICE nutrition and information center. “Such a green, less ripe banana contains less sugar and consists of a lot of unavailable or ‘packaged’ starch. This starch consists of long sugar chains and is difficult to digest, which can cause bloating, intestinal cramps or flatulence. It is difficult to say how green a banana must be for this. Some people are also more sensitive to these effects than others. But if a banana is not too unripe, those complex sugars are actually a positive feature.”
Ripe bananas = energy boost
During the ripening process, the starch in a banana breaks down into simple sugars and becomes more available. That is why a yellow banana – possibly with brown spots – tastes much sweeter than a green one. Your body absorbs those simple sugars much faster. That’s useful when you exercise, because it gives you an energy boost, but that spike in sugar in your blood could also increase your risk of type 2 diabetes. You don’t get that with a greener banana.”
A ripe banana contains more antioxidants than a greener banana.
Hilde De Geeter, NICE nutrition center
De Geeter further explains: “If you eat a banana as a separate snack, the peak in your blood sugar level – and the energy boost – will be the greatest. But if you also eat something else at the same time – such as yogurt or bread, for example – the effect of the ripe banana on your blood sugar level will be less. The composition of those other products then determines how quickly you absorb the sugars. In this way, fibers make absorption much slower.”
“A ripe banana also contains more antioxidants, which we suspect have a positive effect on the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease. But there is currently no direct evidence for these benefits,” De Geeter qualifies.
Healthy fruit, not a miracle cure
The complex sugars in greener bananas are slightly healthier, but that doesn’t mean much. In addition, green bananas are not tasty and can lead to difficult digestion. “Remember that if a banana is not yet fully ripe, it is usually not a problem to eat it. The energy boost varies depending on how ripe the banana is, but it remains a healthy fruit and not a miracle cure.”
“For a healthy diet, it is especially important to eat a varied diet. You certainly cannot prevent or solve ailments by only eating unripe or ripe bananas. When you limit yourself to just one type of fruit, you miss out on other substances that are necessary for good long-term health.”
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2023-10-17 13:30:00
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