How Bananas Benefit Your Bones — And Brain
And even better if at stage 5 of ripeness …
Who would have thought that bananas promote our gut health, helping grow beneficial bacteria that ultimately strengthens our bones, and delays neural degeneration in our brain?
It all starts with inulin, which is in bananas and which begins to be digested only when it reaches our gut.
Resistant starches — prebiotics pass to our gut
Inulin is a term applied to a heterogeneous blend of naturally occurring carbohydrates found widely distributed in plants, notably in chicory root. Oligofructose is a subgroup of inulin. For example, bananas contain both inulin and oligofructose, neither of which are digested in the upper gastrointestinal tract.
These types of carbohydrates are called “resistant” as they are resistant to being digested in our stomach (and therefore, they have a reduced caloric value).
They are also called “prebiotics” in contrast to “probiotic” fermented products such as yoghurt. Probiotics contain live bacteria — you can read of them in the ingredients on a yoghurt container — whereas prebiotics are feedstock for bacteria.
Prebiotics pass through to our gut and stimulate the growth of healthy intestinal…
