"Many Photos" - The nutrition truth about bananas

As one of the cheapest and most satiating fruits, bananas are up there with the most popular snacks you can buy. 

And while their health benefits are widely known, few are aware of how the ripeness of a banana impacts its nutritional make-up.

So to help make it clear, Australian sports dietitian Ryan Pinto recently shared a graphic about the various benefits - and why eating an over-ripe banana may not be a great idea. 

'The best way to understand how the health of a banana can change is by investigating what really happens to them internally over time,' he wrote on his page, High Performance Nutrition AU. 

Australian sports dietitian Ryan Pinto recently shared a graphic about the various benefits of bananas at different stages - and why eating an over-ripe banana may not be a great idea

Green Bananas 

According to Ryan, green bananas are 'youthful, low fodmap and full of starch'.

'Referred to as 'resistant' starch, this nutrient makes your digestive system work a little harder. It's also the reason why green bananas seem to fill you up so quickly,' he wrote.

However, the starch in green bananas can also 'make you feel gassy or bloated' and also 'contributes to their waxy texture'.

'If you're looking for a banana that's lower GI, go for a green one. Eventually, your body will break this starch down into glucose. This way, green bananas will raise blood sugar levels slowly,' he said.

'The trade-off here is taste. Green bananas can be bitter, as they contain less sugar in every bite.'

Yellow Bananas

'Say goodbye to starch and hello to sugar,' Ryan said. 

According to the sports dietitian, this banana is 'softer and sweeter' because it contains more sugar and while higher on the glyecmic index, is easier to digest. 

'With less starch to break down, your digestive system will soak up the nutrients quicker,' Ryan said.

'Unfortunately, there is always micronutrient loss as bananas age. To make up for this, yellow bananas are more developed when it comes to antioxidants.'

'If you're looking for a banana that's lower GI, go for a green one. Eventually, your body will break this starch down into glucose. This way, green bananas will raise blood sugar levels slowly,' he said

What other health benefits do bananas provide? 

* Bananas are rich in pectin, a type of fiber that gives the flesh its spongy structural form

* Unripe bananas contain resistant starch, which acts like soluble fiber and escapes digestion

* A medium-sized banana has about 3 grams of fiber, making bananas a fairly good fibre source

*  Several studies reveal that 15–30 grams of resistant starch per day may improve insulin sensitivity by 33–50% in as few as four weeks

*  One 13-year study in women determined that those who ate bananas 2–3 times per week were 33% less likely to develop kidney disease

Source: Healthline 

Spotted Bananas 

'Not only do brown spots show that a banana has aged, but they also indicate how much starch has been converted to sugar,' Ryan said.

'Ultimately, the greater number of brown spots a banana has, the more sugar it contains.'

'Not only do brown spots show that a banana has aged, but they also indicate how much starch has been converted to sugar,' Ryan said

However, Ryan says brown spots can also be seen as 'tiny immune system boosters'.

'Spotted bananas are so rich in antioxidants that they have been linked to cancer prevention. Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) which functions to destroy tumours, is linked to those brown dots,' he said.

Brown Bananas  

'Do you remember all that resistant starch? Well, it's practically all sugar now,' Ryan said. 

'Just as the starch has broken down into sugar, chlorophyll has taken a new form as well. 

'This breakdown of chlorophyll is the reason why antioxidant levels increase as bananas age.

'All bananas are around 100 calories, low in fat and are rich sources of Potassium, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C and Fibre.'

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