Bananas are the creamy flesh and sweet fruit, with firmness, which are packaged in their yellow jackets. Bananas are one of the most consumed fruits in tropical and subtropical regions.
Free radicals may be produced continuously which cause serious diseases, like heart disease, cancer, arthritis, inflammation and aging. Antioxidants are those agents which can scavenge the free radicals and inhibit the damage caused by them. The best antioxidants found in nature so far are vitamin C, vitamin E and the carotenoids.
Banana contains antioxidants and phytochemicals such as Vitamin-C, Vitamin-E, flavonoids and β-carotene which have free radical scavenging activity. Some enzymes of banana flesh increase the antioxidant capacity.
These tropical fruits have strong ability to protect themselves from the oxidative stress caused by the intense sunshine and high temperature by increasing their antioxidant levels. They are known as a weak primary antioxidant source but a powerful secondary antioxidant source.
Carbohydrates, norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, tryptophan, indole compounds, alkaloids, tannin, ascorbic acid, several flavonoids and related compounds (Leucocyanidin, quercetin and its 3-O-galactoside, 3-O-glucoside, and 3-O-rhamnosyl glucoside) have been isolated from the pulp of different bananas. Sterols such as β-sitosterol, campesterol, stigmasterol were isolated from the fruit, peel and plant.
Recent studies demonstrated that banana peel generally include higher phenolic compounds than that of banana pulps. It was reported carotenoids such as β-carotene, α-carotene and different xanthophylls in the range of 300–400 μg lutein equivalents/100 g. Researchers attributed antioxidant properties of banana peel to its gallocatechin content.
Antioxidant properties of banana
Bananas represent on of the most widely traded agricultural goods in the world with annual export valued at five billion dollars. There are two main varieties of bananas, the fruit or sweet banana and the plantain.....
The most popular posts
-
Banana cultivation in Malaysia is a significant agricultural activity, with the fruit being the second most widely cultivated in the country...
-
Banana Malayan leaf spot, caused by the fungus Haplobasidium musae , is a significant yet generally minor disease that affects banana and pl...
-
Taxonomic Classification Bananas and plantains belong to the genus Musa , of the family Musaceae. The genus has five sections namely Eumusa...
-
Lycopene is an antioxidant carotenoid compound occurring in plants. Lycopene, from the New Latin word lycopersicum is a carotenoid whic...
-
Banana powder is a powder made from processed banana. It has a high sugar and low starch content and can be produced as a substitute for fre...
Other selected articles
-
-
Spray drying instant coffee refer to a type of coffee that has been treated with a spray drying process that remove all the water from the coffee beans. ...
-
-