The Role of Banana Carbohydrates in a Balanced Diet

How do banana carbohydrates help you?

Banana carbohydrates are present in the form of starch in unripe bananas, whereas they are in the form of sugars in the ripe ones. There is a change in the composition of carbohydrate content as the banana ripens. In the unripe bananas, you will find almost 80% starch. However, in the ripe fruits, these are converted to sugars. So, there is hardly any starch content in them. However, they have about 16% sugar content, which is essentially another form of carbohydrate.

Your balanced diet must consist of reasonable quantities of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. Consuming bananas for the carbohydrate content would improve your digestive health to a great extent. Unripe bananas, or the green ones you normally use for cooking, are good sources of resistant starch. Banana carbohydrates impact your gut health. While most carbs are digested in the small intestine, resistant starch goes straight to your large intestine. It ferments there, encouraging the growth of good bacteria to improve the overall health of your gut.

There are about 23g of banana carbohydrates per 100g of the fruit. Almost 90% of the fruit contains different carbohydrates based on its ripeness stage. If you are looking to follow a low-calorie, highly digestible, balanced diet, you should include bananas in your everyday meals.

Benefits of Bananas

Apart from banana carbohydrates that aid your digestive health, some other benefits of this common fruit are:

• High potassium content keeps the heart healthy and reduces the risk of increased blood pressure, strokes, bone degeneration, and kidney stones.

• Low-glycaemic index of bananas keeps blood sugar levels under control.

• Rich in pectin fibre, bananas keep your gut healthy and improve your overall digestive health.

• The probiotic content of bananas provides relief from urinary tract infections, irritable bowel syndrome, allergies, and other infections.

• Antioxidants in bananas may reduce the risk of wheezing in kids.

• Lectin protein in bananas may prevent the growth of cancerous cells.

• Tryptophan amino acids in bananas may improve memory power and keep mood swings under control.