Bananas have long been a lunchbox and brown bag staple. And that's not just because they're an easily portable food item. They're also nutritious and beneficial for your heart, blood sugar, digestion, and more.
Here are five health benefits of eating bananas.
In fact, just one banana can give you 9% of your recommended daily intake (RDI) of potassium and 8% of magnesium. As for vitamin C, a banana might not be the first food to pop into your mind. But the fruit supplies around 11% of your RDI.
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Indeed, bananas, which contain pectin and resistant starch, might actually help lower blood sugar. Richards says that these soluble fibers act in concert with each other by increasing the sensation of satiety, preventing overeating, and slowing the rate of digestion.
Potassium is a double threat. While most people think of it as a mineral, it also functions as an electrolyte. Electrolytes are instrumental for regulating muscle contraction. "Because the heart is a muscle," Moreno says, "potassium and heart health are very closely linked."
Potassium can also help balance sodium levels. Potassium, which monitors fluid inside the cells, has a push-pull relationship with sodium, which controls the fluid outside the cells. Too little potassium and too much sodium means more fluid and a higher blood volume in the bloodstream. This increases blood pressure with an added risk of heart attack and stroke.
Moreno says that the banana has become "very stigmatized in diet culture" because of its carbohydrate content. "People vilify them. But we don't have weight issues because of bananas."
In fact, the fruit might actually help you feel fuller, faster. The combination of pectin and resistant starch delays stomach emptying, leading you to eat less calories, Richards says.
When it comes to gut health, bananas both give and take away. Green, or greener, bananas can promote constipation, "due to the higher amount of resistant starch and pectin," Richards says, which both slow down your stomach's digestive process.
Bananas also contain insoluble fiber: The insoluble fiber absorbs and processes nutrients, while the soluble fiber creates soft bulk for the body to clear toxins from the digestive system.
