Are bananas actually bad for you?

[LadyEv]

My partner's parents dropped in on us this morning while my daughter was having a banana for breakfast, which I guess is what prompted my partner's mum to tell us that in a bid to lose weight she'd banned bananas. I replied 'I didn't realise bananas were that fattening?' she said 'Well they're fruit and there's sugar in fruit.' she went on to tell me that brown bananas have more sugar in them. A bit of googling suggests she might be right about that one. Obviously I know that fruit has sugar in it. But even so surely Bananas are good for you? I think they are filling and delicious. Surely a 100 calories of banana is better for you than 100 calories of crisps or bread? Are bananas really that bad? My reasoning says not but then again I used to think fruit juice was good for me.

liveforsummer hate to break it to you but there's sugars of some kind in pretty much all food and drink except water!

Oh I know - I'm one of the ones trying to point this out to the person that claims they eat no sugar!

I'm loving this thread. What planet do people live on where fruit should be avoided?

I can't imagine saying to my kids, hey put the banana back you can have a bag of crisps and be healthy, does anyone seriously say that?

@Rosesareyellow

Are bananas really radioactive?

Not as radio active as Brazil nuts.

And if you fly to Brazil and prepare a breakfast of bananas and Brazil Nuts on a granite chopping board, it's even higher.

Bananas are fine. They're fine for Diabetics if they allow for them in their carb counts, they're fine for anybody who would otherwise have a bar of shite Dairy Milk, they're fine for anybody who prefers them in a smoothie with other blended fruits.

They won't make you fat. Unless, of course, you turn them into banana bread and eat half a cake with a Tetrapak of Devon Custard and double cream with them daily or make banoffee pies every day to follow already excessive meals. But that's the additional ingredients creating a calorific excess and bugger all to do with the innocuous bit of fruit that's being demonised.

Yes a large banana might have the same amount if sugar as a can of coke.

But if I have a can of coke it will provide no nutrition and I will still be hungry so will eat something else.

A banana will provide nutrients and will make me feel full so I won’t eat anything else.

Bananas are good for you, they are an excellent source of minerals and fibre. Anyone who thinks you should restrict fruit because of sugar should immediately have their opinions on nutrition discounted. Even diabetics are told there is no need to limit fruit.

@NeverDropYourMooncup I am definitely making banana bread soon now you've reminded me. I'll avoid custard, not because of the calories but because it's gloopy.

I don't overeat, am active and agree with you this is key, not avoiding fruit.

They are high in sugar but you do actually need some sugar, especially for your brain. Problem is we eat too much when in the form of sweets and more processed food. A banana is a better source of sugar as well as vitamins and potassium. It's also high in fibre which makes you feel fuller for longer than snacks made from wheat etc.

The brain does indeed require glucose to function.

I’m sorry but that’s nonsense. You do not need sugar. I haven’t eaten sugar, including fruit, for 6 years and I am functioning fine. I have had a baby during this time, and she was born absolutely perfect. By all means eat sugar, and consume as many bananas as you like, but sugar, including that found in fruit, is absolutely unnecessary.

Even broccoli contains several sugars! Even potatoes! Nobody consumes no sugar.

And if you fly to Brazil and prepare a breakfast of bananas and Brazil Nuts on a granite chopping board, it's even higher.

This reminds me of something I read before on the internet - so it must be true - apparently a spoon of uranium is 20 million calories (or something like that) I don’t know how much of that is due to that pesky sugar though… best avoid radio active foods lest they make us obese in a matter of 10 seconds.

If you chew bread, the enzyme amylase in saliva breaks starch into glucose and it starts to taste sweeter...the poster who eats no sugar will need to ditch starchy as well as sugary carbs now too, which isn't sustainable.

It's like saying I never consume water, but it's in most food and drinks anyway.

It's like saying I never consume water, but it's in most food and drinks anyway.

Perhaps that pp only consumes water - or is an airtarian. They could do to come back and clarify!

Fruit does have a lot of sugar in it (as fructose), and the only difference between fruit and confectionery is that fruit has a greater nutritional value because of all the other things in it as well.So if you were going to eat one or the other as a snack, then go for the fruit. If you are having to watch your carbohydrate intake for health reasons, you shouldn't really be eating either.

But surely it isn't just that the fruit has greater nutritional value, it's that the fructose in it is absorbed more slowly due to the fibre content, and so produces much less of a peak in blood sugar than the equivalent amount of sucrose would.

@liveforsummer apologies I must have tagged wrong person and now I can't find them sorry

Actually if you are taking blood pressure medication that has potassium in you shouldn't eat bananas. My husband is on Ramipril and he loves bananas so was very put out about that.
I had low potassium levels and was told to eat lots of bananas but I hate them!

@Howyoualldoworkme that's annoying for you re bananas

There are other foods even higher in concentration than bananas can you not eat them either? Rules out a lot

I have a thing where I get cramps, muscle spasms etc and having food rich in potassium is supposed to help. It's not low potassium just potassium helps it.

Bananas are bad for me. I used to love them but they cause me such stomach pain and constipation that I had to give them up. And I’m Diabetic and have been told to avoid foods that cause my blood sugars to rise - which fruit sadly does. I can manage a few strawberries or raspberries though without ill effect.

FFS, given that your daughter is 18 months old and obviously not suffering with diabetes or any obesity issues, she is absolutely fine to eat any and all fruit and vegetables she can get her hands on.

Natural sugars and carbs are not the body’s enemy, otherwise man would not have evolved eating them.

Sure, some people should avoid the high fructose in bananas and eating too much sugar, but generally these people have health issues that pre-dispose them to reacting to too much potassium or fructose.

Average joe, eating a wonderfully healthy diet and being out and active will thrive on a veg/fruit predominant diet.

I’ve lead a predominately plant based diet for a while now and I don’t tend to eat banana because I’m not particularly fond of them, and I don’t crave sugar at all, but will still eat some fruit for the health benefits. There’s fucking nothing wrong with glucose, it’s the shit in a dairy milk that’ll damage you longer term than a sodding banana.

Is your daughter on a diet to lose weight?

I have a health problem that means I have to avoid salt and fats, but that does not mean everyone has to avoid them.

Fruit does have a lot of sugar in it (as fructose), and the only difference between fruit and confectionery is that fruit has a greater nutritional value because of all the other things in it as well.

This is completely untrue. Processed sugars are absorbed completely differently to natural sugars in a whole fruit. If you are a spoon of refined sugar for example or you blend a the banana you’d take in more of the sugars as carbs, if you eat a banana normally then a fair amount will actually just pass through your body. Refined sugar is very efficiently absorbed by your body - sugars that your body has to work harder to digest - starting by chewing - less so.

@Strokethefurrywallke. You do sound very angry about this so whilst not disagreeing that fruit and veg are good for you, can I just say that the ops mil was not saying that bananas are bad for you or that the ops child shouldn't have bananas, she was just saying she had cut them out of her diet because she was trying to lose weight. It's not uncommon to cut down on bananas and grapes etc whilst on a diet.

“I’m sorry but that’s nonsense. You do not need sugar. I haven’t eaten sugar, including fruit, for 6 years and I am functioning fine. I have had a baby during this time, and she was born absolutely perfect. By all means eat sugar, and consume as many bananas as you like, but sugar, including that found in fruit, is absolutely unnecessary.“

Crazy!

I can't recall anyone packing on the pounds because of too many bananas.

It sounds like your MIL has an unhealthy relationship with food and is just blurting out 'fun' facts for you.

Anyone who's ever watched a Charlie Chaplin film knows bananas are bad for you

Bananas are Mars Bars in yellow jackets. They’re too high in sugar for those of us with diabetes.

@Laserbird16. I'm sure her mil didn't get overweight from eating bananas. But however you get overweight, when you need to eliminate calories, foods like bananas and grapes are often on the list. Just to say, her mil didn't say her daughter shouldn't be eating bananas.