Adding bananas to smoothies lowers the concentration of beneficial nutrients in the body.
Smoothies are drinks that can be enjoyed by mixing various fruits and vegetables, and bananas are a popular ingredient because they have effects such as 'adding sweetness,' 'making the texture smoother,' and 'making the overall taste milder.' However, a paper published in 2023 in Food & Function, a scientific journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, showed that 'adding bananas to smoothies lowers the concentration of certain components in the body.'
Impact of polyphenol oxidase on the bioavailability of flavan-3-ols in fruit smoothies: a controlled, single blinded, cross-over study† | Food & Function | The Royal Society of Chemistry
Most Health Benefits From Fruit Smoothies | UC Davis
https://www.ucdavis.edu/health/news/right-combo-getting-most-health-benefits-fruit-smoothies
Leave This Fruit Out of Your Next Berry Smoothie, Experiments Suggest : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/you-might-want-to-leave-this-fruit-out-of-your-next-smoothie-experiments-suggest
The research team focused on 'flavan-3-ol (flavanol),' one of the components found in smoothies. Flavanols are a type of polyphenol found in foods such as apples, pears, blueberries, blackberries, grapes, and cocoa, and are believed to have beneficial effects on heart and cognitive health.
When a banana is peeled and left for a while, the flesh turns brown. This discoloration is caused by the oxidation of polyphenols by an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase (PPO). To investigate the effect of PPO on flavanols, the research team had subjects drink a smoothie containing bananas with high PPO activity and a smoothie containing berries with low PPO activity, and measured the concentration of flavanols in their blood and urine.
The experiment revealed that the flavanol levels in subjects who drank banana smoothies were 84% lower than in the control group. Javier Ottaviani, the lead author of the paper, said, 'I was truly surprised that adding just one banana could reduce the amount of flavanol absorbed into the body so much.'
Ottaviani recommends making smoothies that combine 'flavanol-rich foods such as berries' with 'foods with low PPO activity such as pineapple, oranges, mangoes, and yogurt' if you want to increase your flavanol intake. On the other hand, he also points out that 'bananas are a great fruit whether you eat them as they are or use them in smoothies.'
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