Banana Nutrition

It’s the bicycle rider’s best friend, a potassium pipeline that instantly picks up a sagging pumper. It’s a diarrhea sufferer’s ally, a soothing substance that may stop what you most want stopped and help replace what you’ve lost.

It helps to replace electrolytes, the very tiny electrical charges needed to power the body and maintain fluid balance. It’s a helping hand against high blood pressure that may help keep your numbers low.

It’s a tropical fruit, a large berry, that’s handy and healthy, providing 452 milligrams of potassium, 33 milligrams of magnesium, and just over 2 grams of fiber.

Studies have shown that people with high levels of potassium in their diet have a lower incidence of hypertension, even if they don’t watch their salt intake.

The banana shares many benefits of its fruity brethren: It’s low in calories, fat, sodium, and much of its fiber is soluble — the kind that can help lower cholesterol. It stands out, however, because it has lots of potassium and a respectable amount of magnesium.

That’s why it’s a favorite fruit of most athletes and often is recommended for people with diarrhea or high blood pressure. Bananas are also a very good source of vitamin B6, providing one-third of the RDA in a single serving.
Banana Nutrition

Essential oil in banana

Essential oils are complex mixtures of volatile compounds obtained by water or steam distillation of plant material.

Essential oils are usually colorless or pale yellow liquids with storing odor resembling the source plant materials. Analysis of the chemical compounds in banana has been carried out for the past 50 years.

Major compounds of banana fruits are acetates, butanoates, and/or 3-mthylbutyl esters.

Hultin and Proctor in 1961 have found the following substance in aqueous distillate of the banana: acetic acid, methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, 2’-hexenal, pentan-2-one and possibly isoamyl alcohol, isoamyl acetate and 2-octanone.

McCarthy (1963), from chromatographic analysis of banana found that the banana-like flavor is due to the amyl esters of acetic, propionic, and butyric acids.

The compounded essential oil used extensively in the preparation of banana liqueur results from the blending of amyl and benzyl acetate and amyl and ethyl butyrate: the mixture is rounded off by the addition of essential oil (orange, lemon) and vanillin.
Essential oil in banana

Banana alcohol

Banana wine played a prominent role in the ritual and social events of the major interlacustrine kingdoms of East Africa.

Homemade banana alcohol, although considered illegal is widely produced in many countries in Africa and many-scale farmers depend on this for their income.

The juice from the ripe fruit of varieties known as ‘beer bananas’ is also drunk fresh or fermented to make a beer with low alcohol content and short of shelf life.

Banana wine is used extensively as a basis for distillation in interlacustrine East Africa, and wine produced for this purpose does not have sorghum added to it before fermentation.

In Philippines a large quantity of banana export rejected used for preparation of alcohol. Juice extracted from the ripe fruit was found to contain approximately 126 g/L total sugars.

In production of alcohol from banana peel by subjecting the material to saccharification treatments using either sulfuric acid, steam, under pressure or cellulose.

The fermentation of the juice was carried out with Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus. The alcohol yield was approximately 150 ml/kg of peel.
Banana alcohol

Cardiovascular protection by banana

Cardiovascular protection by banana
Bananas are common supermarket fruit and few realize its health benefit. Bananas are rich source of vitamin B, C and A, Bananas are also low in calories and fat, and also they have high potassium level. Potassium is one of essential mineral for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function.

Bananas is among the best contain a lot of potassium. The average banana contains a whopping 467 mg of potassium and only 1 mg of sodium, a banana a day may help to prevent high blood pressure and protect against atherosclerosis. We need about 3 grams a day of potassium. Potassium has an important function in the blood pressure circulation system and is needed for muscles and nerve to function properly.

Researchers tracked over 40,000 American male health professionals over four years to determine the effects of diet on blood pressure. Men, who ate diets higher in potassium-rich foods, as well as foods high in magnesium and cereal fiber, had a substantially reduced risk of stroke. A study confirmed that eating high fiber foods, such as bananas, helps prevent heart disease. People eating the most fiber, 21 grams per day, had 12% less coronary heart disease and 11% less cardiovascular disease compared to those eating the least, 5 grams daily. Those eating the most water-soluble dietary fiber fared even better with a 15% reduction in risk of coronary heart disease and a 10% risk reduction in coronary heart disease.

In addition to these cardiovascular benefits, the potassium found in bananas may also help to promote bone health. Potassium may counteract the increased urinary calcium loss caused by the high-salt diets typical of most Americans, thus helping to prevent bones from thinning out at a fast rate.
Cardiovascular protection by banana

Introduction to banana

Bananas are grown in all tropical regions and play a key role in the economics of many developing countries.

There are two main varieties of bananas, the fruit or sweet banana and the plantain. The fruit banana is eaten raw out of hand when it turns yellow and develops a succulent sweetness with a soft, smooth, creamy, yet firm pulp.

The plantain, a cooking banana, is also referred to as the meal, vegetable or horse banana. Plantains have lower water content, making them drier and starchier than fruit bananas.

Banana and plantains are a major staple food for many millions of people throughout the humid and subhumid tropics. Bananas and plantains have achieved greater importance as cash or subsistence crops in regions away from their primary centers of origin.

Though the banana plant has the appearance of a sort of palm tree, and is often called a banana palm, it is actually considered a perennial herb. It dies back after each fruiting and produces new growth for the next generation of fruit.

The banana was domesticated from two wild Southeast Asian progenitor species: Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana.

It got rid of the many seeds that were an unpleasant presence, and improved the flavor and texture from hard and unappetizing to its present soft and irresistibly sweet flavor.

Many processed products can be produced from banana and plantains, including purees, flour, jam, dried banana, chips and drinks. Banana chips are the only product with an international trade.
Introduction to banana