If you’ve ever bought a bunch of bananas from the supermarket and thought “I’ll wait to eat these after they ripen up”, I’m here to tell you, you’re probably missing out on a number of health benefits that the unripe ones hold.
Resident TikTok doctor Karan Raj took to the platform to inform his followers of the information: “Ripe and unripe bananas have different health benefits”.
Sorry, what?
What’s the science behind it, you ask?
“The more under-ripe or green a banana is, the higher its proportion of Resistant starch,” he explains. “A form of carbohydrates that acts like a fibre. It’s a prebiotic that your gut bacteria loves to consume.”
According to WebMD, “Resistant starch is a type of nutrient that may help your body with digestion, weight loss, disease prevention, and other healthy functions.” It can be “part of a healthy lifestyle that includes good nutrition, exercise, sleep, and other essential habits to help you stay well”.
In case you didn’t know, most of the carbohydrates we eat on a daily basis are starches.
“Some types of starch can pass through your digestive tract without being digested,” Healthline says. “Many studies in humans show that resistant starch can have powerful health benefits.”
Well, what about the good-old, ripe bananas?
“On the other hand, the more yellow or ripe a banana, the easier it is to digest, because over time more starch gets converted into simple carbohydrates,” Dr Karan Raj informs his following.
“The more a banana ripens and starts getting brown, the higher its antioxidant content.”
“Over time, enzymes cause a natural ripening process, stimulating the breakdown of the banana’s molecules,” Yahoo mentions. “Subsequently, antioxidant activity increases, revealing itself as brown spots. The protein content also increases during ripening, while vitamin A and fibre stay consistent.”
That said, bananas hold incredible health benefits, and I personally am kicking myself for throwing brown bananas in the compost bin without even a second thought. BRB while I go into the kitchen and incorporate my overly ripe bananas into a smoothie.