Banana a day keeps the doctor away ? Nutritional Facts | Medicinal Properties

Banana as a fruit

A banana is an edible fruit produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants of the genus Musa. The fruit is variable in size, color and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind which may be yellow, purple or red when ripe. The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible parthenocarpic (seedless) bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The scientific names of most cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana, and Musa × paradisiaca for the hybrid Musa acuminata × M. balbisiana, depending on their genomic constitution. The old scientific name Musa sapientum is no longer used.
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Nutritional Facts

1. Bananas contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. It gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. It help overcome depression due high levels of tryptophan, which is converted into serotonin — the happy-mood brain neurotransmitte­r.

2. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder that it is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes. Eating two bananas before a strenuous workout can pack an energy punch and sustain your blood sugar.

3. It help protect you against muscle cramps during workouts and night time leg cramps.

4. It regulate blood sugar and relieve stress, which improves your mood and reduces PMS symptoms.

5. IT are high in vitamin B-6 which helps reduce swelling, protect against type 2 diabetes, aid weight loss, strengthen the nervous system, and assist in the production of white blood cells.

6. These are full of iron, which helps strengthen your blood and relieve anemia.

7. The FDA officially recognizes it as being able to lower blood pressure and protect against heart attack and stroke.

8. It aid digestion and help the body get rid of toxins and heavy metals.

9. It stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria in the bowel as well as assist in absorbing nutrients.

10. Eating bananas helps prevent kidney cancer, protects the eyes against mascular degeneration, and builds strong bones by increasing calcium absorption.

Banana Medicinal Properties

1. DEPRESSION : According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.
2. PMS : Forget the pills – eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.
3. ANEMIA : High in iron, it can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.
4. TEMPERATURE CONTROL : Many other cultures see it as a ‘cooling’ fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Banana Storing Tips

Never, put bananas in the refrigerator as it releases certain gases, which tends to ripen it fastly. Bananas ripen themselves by producing ethylene gas. Tomatoes, apples, pears and bananas all produce ethylene gas. Due to the polyphenyl oxidase enzyme in bananas polymerizing phenols in the banana peel turns into polyphenols.
If you put an apple or tomato in a bag with bananas, that will speed the ripening. Because bananas produce it, you can place the bananas in a bag to trap the gas and ripen them faster.
It is better to store bananas outside the refrigerator to prevent instant ripening.

BANANA TRIVIA

When you compare it to an Apple, it has FOUR TIMES the Protein, TWICE the Carbohydrate, THREE TIMES the Phosphorus, FIVE times the Vitamin A and Iron, and TWICE the other Vitamins and Minerals. It is also rich in Potassium and is one of the best value foods around So may be its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say,
‘A BANANA a day keeps the doctor away !’
Bananas must be the reason monkeys are so happy  all the time.