The Benefits of Including Bananas in Your Diet

The next time you feel like having a healthy snack, you may want to eat a banana. This soft and tasty fruit is highly nutritious and comes with a purple, red, green, or yellow skin. Yellow bananas are very easy to find in stores, and prior to ripening their skin is green. Plantains, which have a green colored skin too, are a type of banana that is commonly cooked prior to eating. Bananas offer impressive health benefits you should not miss out on, so learn what they are by reading the information below.  

Bananas Lower Blood Pressure

Potassium is a mineral as well as an electrolyte, and there’s over 400 milligrams of potassium in one medium-sized banana. This nutrient aids in keeping fluids in the body balanced and it assists with controlling the heart’s performance. Foods that are abundant in potassium have a reputation of bringing down blood pressure. Bananas may also prevent heart disease as well as stroke.

Bananas Offer Protection from Breast Cancer

In 2009, the findings of a study linked bananas to a reduced risk for breast cancer. In the study, bananas were among eight different fruits and vegetables that were discovered to be connected to a decreased risk of the disease. Before that, a study done in Uruguay found that eating bananas helped in the prevention of colorectal cancer.

Bananas Alleviate Gastrointestinal Disorders

Bananas have been consumed to bring comfort to the digestive tract. An investigation of this fruit showed that it had an opposing effect on stomach lesions. Plantains are even more effective at healing stomach ulcers because they possess an enzyme that encourages the body to produce mucus in the stomach lining. This mucus fortifies the body’s ability to fight off pylori and other types of bacteria that interfere with maintaining a healthy gastrointestinal tract.

Bananas Fight Fatigue

Because bananas are so rich in potassium they can help elevate your energy level. The potassium in bananas also aids in contraction of the muscles. If you are into sports, consumption of bananas could help enhance your performance.

Aside from potassium, bananas contain vitamin B6 and vitamin C. Bananas also supply you with fiber, manganese, folate, riboflavin, magnesium, copper, and phenols that act as anti-oxidants. Though bananas have a lot of wonderful healthy benefits, ask your doctor if this potassium-rich fruit is okay for you to eat if you are on medication to lower blood pressure or have a kidney disorder.

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HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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Written by HealthStatus
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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