ARE GREEN BANANAS GOOD OR BAD?

Bananas are incredibly tasty and easy to eat.

What’s more, they’re rich in many essential vitamins and minerals.

Most people eat bananas when they’re yellow and ripe, but green and unripe bananas are also safe to eat.

However, some people dislike their taste and texture.

Green vs Yellow Bananas: What’s the Difference?

Bananas are typically harvested while they’re still green. This helps ensure they don’t get too ripe before you buy them.

Therefore, you might see them in this color in the supermarket.

Besides being different in color, green and yellow bananas differ in several ways:

• Taste: Green bananas are less sweet. They’re actually quite bitter in taste.
• Texture: Green bananas are firmer than yellow bananas. Their texture has sometimes been described as waxy.
• Composition: Green bananas are higher in starches. As bananas ripen and turn yellow, the starches transform into sugars.

Additionally, green bananas are harder to peel, while ripe bananas are easy to peel.

As The Banana Ripens, The Carb Composition Changes

Unripe bananas contain mostly starch, which makes up 70–80% of their dry weight.

Much of that starch is resistant starch which is not digested in the small intestine.

Therefore, it’s often classified as dietary fiber 

However, bananas lose their starch as they ripen. During ripening, their starch is converted into simple sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose).

Interestingly, ripe bananas contain only 1% starch.

Green bananas are also a good source of pectin. This type of dietary fiber is found in fruits and helps them keep their structural form. Pectin breaks down when a banana becomes overripe, which causes the fruit to become soft and mushy.

The resistant starch and pectin in green bananas can provide a number of health benefits, including improved blood sugar control and better digestive health.

Health

The nutrients in green bananas may also have a prebiotic effect 

Instead of being broken down in your intestine, resistant starch and pectin feed the friendly bacteria that reside in your gut.

The bacteria ferment these two types of fiber, producing butyrate and other beneficial short-chain fatty acids 

Short-chain fatty acids may help with various digestive problems.

In addition, there is some evidence suggesting that they help protect against colon cancer.

They Have Benefits for Your Blood Sugar

Having high blood sugar levels is a major health concern.

If left untreated over time, it may lead to type 2 diabetes and raise the risk of other serious health problems.

Both the pectin and resistant starch in green bananas may help control blood sugar levels after meals.

Unripe, green bananas also rank low on the glycemic index, with a value of 30. Well-ripened bananas have a score of around 60.

The glycemic index measures how quickly foods raise blood sugar levels after eating. 

The scale runs from 0 to 100, and lower values are good for blood sugar control.

Are Green Bananas Unhealthy in Any Way?

Green bananas are generally considered to be healthy.

However, there have been some online reports of people experiencing discomfort after eating them.

This includes digestive symptoms like bloating, gas and constipation 

Additionally, you may want to be careful with green bananas if you’re allergic to latex.

They contain proteins that are similar to the allergy-causing proteins in latex, which may cause reactions for people with a latex allergy. This condition is known as the latex-fruit syndrome.

How Green Does The Banana Have to Be?

Green bananas may provide some additional nutrients and benefits that yellow bananas do not.

They’re rich in resistant starch and pectin, which are filling, improve digestive health and help lower blood sugar levels.

However, some people find that green bananas have a bitter taste and bad texture.

Interestingly, the resistant starch and pectin gradually decrease as the banana ripens, so bananas that are yellow with a hint of green should still contain small amounts.

For this reason, the banana doesn’t have to be completely green for you to get at least some of these benefits.