The exotic fruit has become an integral part of our diet. Bananas are the most popular snacks for young and old, which provide quick energy and have a positive effect on your mood. Despite the sweet taste, bananas should not be consumed in large quantities because the yellow fruit has a very high calorie value.
In this article we explain how many calories are in a banana and whether you should avoid the tasty fruit at all. Finally, we give you valuable tips on how you can include bananas in your diet without a guilty conscience.
the essentials in brief
- The crooked, exotic fruit has a high calorie content. This does not mean that the yellow fruit should be removed from the diet. Despite the calories, bananas should be consumed, but in moderation.
- Bananas are a great snack for when you're hungry. Not only does it taste great, it is also very filling. Therefore, the fruit is also suitable for diets and healthy eating habits.
- Despite the calories, the banana is a fast supplier of energy and provides you with important substances. However, you have to be careful, because a banana has a very high content of fructose, which can have a negative effect if consumed excessively.
Calories from bananas: what you should know
The banana is the favorite of all fruits. No one can resist the tempting yellow color and sweet taste. However, you should be careful with bananas, because they count as fast food among fruits. Most people label bananas as a calorie bomb and exclude them from their diet. Despite the calories, bananas are very useful for a healthy diet and provide you with natural minerals and trace elements.
What are calories?
Calories represent energy and play a major role in health. Calories are present in every food. All cells in our body need calories to do their jobs. When we eat food, calories are broken down to eventually be released as energy. These are either used immediately by the body or stored for later use.
How many calories a person burns per day depends on gender, height, weight, activity level and age. An adult human should consume about 2000 calories per day. (1).
Watch the diet. Excess calories are stored by the body and deposited as fat.
A high intake of calories can have a negative effect on our body. Calories that are not used during the day are stored in the body as a reserve and this leads to weight gain. Especially when dieting, people count their calorie intake in order to keep track of their nutrition plan. Carbohydrates fuel blood sugar levels and cause fat deposits in the body.
Since calories can be found in almost every food, you should be careful how many calories or which foods introduce calories. Fast food is high in calories and counterproductive to a healthy diet. Bananas are also high in calories.
How are the calories in bananas made up and what nutrients does it contain?
The banana has a very high calorie content compared to other fruits. Therefore, the yellow fruit is often seen as a fattening agent and removed from various diets. However, some overlook the good ingredients that one should not do without. The nutritional values of a banana per 100 g are listed in the table below:
| nutritional values | Nutritional values per 100 g of bananas |
|---|---|
| calories (energy) | 90 calories |
| Water | 74g |
| carbohydrates | 20g |
| fiber | 2g |
| protein | 1g |
| Fat | 0.3g |
If you compare it with other types of fruit, then the banana takes first place in terms of calories with 90 kcal per 100 g. Bananas are also high in carbohydrates and have a nutritional value of 20g (2). Of course, it must also be taken into account that bananas contain a large amount of sugar .
However, in unripened bananas, starch makes up 80-90% of the carbohydrate content, which turns into free sugar as the banana ripens (3). Because of this, the sweet fruit is very popular in sports, as it is well suited as a quick source of energy. The protein of the banana is about 1 g, like most fruits. Bananas may have a high number of calories, but the fat is limited at 0.3 g.
In addition to nutritional values, the banana also has important vitamins that are extremely desirable in the diet because they have positive influences on health and well-being.
Many of these substances have antioxidant activities and effectively protect the body from various stresses. Historically, bananas have been used effectively to treat various ailments, including reducing the risk of many chronic diseases (4).
Are the Calories from Bananas Healthy Calories?
The calorie content should not necessarily be seen as a disadvantage. The calories are also energy that you consume. The energy content of a banana can vary between 88 and 95 calories per 100g. A conventional banana from the supermarket weighs around 100 to 130 g.
That means the exotic fruit has between 88 and 125 calories. The amount of calories determines the ripeness of the banana. An unripe, still greenish banana contains more starch than fructose. The fructose only increases when it ripens, which also increases the calories at the same time.
Bananas provide quick energy and have a positive effect on your mood.
For an energy boost, most drink an energy drink. You can also simply switch to a healthier option, such as bananas. The fruit is a good source of energy despite the high calories. In 2012, a study was published looking at athletes who competed in endurance races.
Two groups were compared: athletes who drank Gatorade and those who consumed bananas and water. The researchers found that the athletes' performance times and body physiology were the same in both cases. Overall performance was enhanced by the serotonin and dopamine in bananas (5).
Bananas are a healthy source of energy for in between meals and are easy to take with you because of their robust skin. (Image Source: Eiliv-Sonas Aceron / Unsplash)
From this we conclude that you should not do without bananas. If you regularly do sports , you don't see bananas as a calorie bomb, but rather as a tasty source of energy.
Are bananas good for losing weight with their calories?
Surprisingly, bananas are very good for losing weight. Bananas are high in fiber and are a great food for weight loss in general.
Unripe bananas are particularly rich in starch, which has a satiating effect and thus reduces hunger.
The so-called resistant starch can also be found in potatoes and corn. Because digestion can only absorb a small percentage of starch, the body absorbs very few calories (6).
A 2017 scientific study found that the resistant starch in bananas may support gut health and control blood sugar. Resistant starch increases the production of short-chain fatty acids in the gut, which are necessary for gut health (7). It has been scientifically proven that eating 24g of a ripe banana regularly for four weeks can result in a weight loss of 1.2kg (8).
Can Bananas Consume Too Many Calories a Day?
Bananas are a very healthy snack , but too much of any single food - including bananas - could do more harm than good.
A banana is much healthier than sweets. However, high consumption of bananas can lead to unhealthy weight gain due to the high calories.
The exotic fruit should be eaten in moderation as it is high in calories and fructose.
Excessive consumption of carbohydrates without balancing it with protein and healthy fats could be particularly dangerous for people with blood sugar disorders such as diabetes or prediabetes ( 9Trusted Source ). Additionally, eating too many bananas can lead to nutrient deficiencies, especially if you don't make room for foods that contain the nutrients that bananas are lacking, such as protein, fat, calcium, vitamin D, and iron.
Despite its calories, the banana provides many nutrients and vitamins and prevents various diseases. (Image Source: Amber Faust / Unsplash)
Always make sure that your diet is varied. Our body needs various nutrients to function properly. Therefore, one must also ensure that food is consumed in moderation.
There is no specific number of bananas that is automatically good or bad for you. It all depends on your unique calorie and nutrient needs. However, two bananas a day is the recommended amount. Bananas may have many important nutrients and vitamins, but you should still ensure a balanced diet.
How can I incorporate the banana and its calories into my daily diet?
With its high calorie content, the banana is even comparable to candy. Bananas should become an important part of your diet because the yellow fruit provides you with fiber, vitamins and nutrients that are important for your health. For the hunger in between, a banana is much better than a chocolate bar. Bananas have a filling effect and thus reduce the feeling of hunger. Therefore, bananas are very well suited for diets and for a conscious diet.
Bananas can also be combined very well with other foods. The fruit is good as a snack. But you can also include bananas in your daily diet with muesli or yoghurt. Bananas have calories, but no one has gained weight from 95 kcal.
Low fruit consumption is one of the main risk factors for chronic diseases and reduces your quality of health. Eating fruits regularly, especially bananas, can help minimize some diseases, such as cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases, as well as some cancers (10).
The exotic fruit should become an important part of your diet. Even if the type of fruit has a lot of calories, nobody has ever gained weight from a banana. (Image Source: Thought Catalog / Unsplash)
If you're eating healthily, don't take in more calories than you can burn. If you take a close look at this rule, you can basically eat anything, just within limits. Nevertheless, a healthy and balanced diet with many vitamins and important nutrients should not be neglected.
However, you should not overdo it with the fruit, because fruit has a high fructose content, which has disadvantages for you in large quantities.
Therefore, you should not overdo it with the bananas. Although they are very healthy despite the calories, they are among the fruits with the highest sugar content.
Eat bananas as you please. Nevertheless, one should not exaggerate the amount consumed. What you should pay most attention to in everyday life are dried bananas. After they've been stripped of all water, not much of the fruit is left other than the concentrated fructose and resulting higher calorie content. That's why it's healthier if you eat a real banana instead of banana chips.
A banana is also good to give you quick energy for the day. Bananas are a healthy source of energy and are good for breakfast. In the morning, our body needs a quick supply of energy to boost metabolism.
A 2009 Japanese study proved that eating bananas increases our levels of serotonin and dopamine, which in turn puts us in a good mood (11). The tasty source of energy increases concentration and is easy to take away because of the shell.
Conclusion
Bananas do have a large amount of calories, making them an unhealthy snack in excessive amounts. Bananas are very important for the diet and therefore should be consumed despite the calories. The fruit is not only very tasty, they also serve as a source of energy. The fruit contains important nutrients, vitamins and other supplements that promote our health.
Bananas are great for breakfast. You can either eat them with muesli, yoghurt or just eat them fresh out of the bowl. They have a satiating effect on us, which is why the fruit is also well suited for diets or for in-between hunger pangs. Even if bananas have a high calorie content, one thing is clear: no one has ever gained weight from a banana.
Itemization(11)
- Capó X, Martorell M, Ferrer MD, Sureda A, Pons V, Domingo JC, Drobnic F, Martínez-Rodríguez A, Leyva-Vela B, Sarabia JM, Herranz-López M, Roche E, Tur JA, Pons A (2020) . Calorie Restriction Improves Physical Performance and Modulates the Antioxidant and Inflammatory Responses to Acute Exercise Source
- Fahrasmane, L. & Parfait, B. & Aurore, Guylene (2014). Bananas, a source of compounds with health properties Source
- Hermansen K, Rasmussen O, Gregersen S, Larsen S (1992). Influence of ripeness of banana on the blood glucose and insulin response in type 2 diabetic subjects Source
- Balwinder Singh, Jatinder Pal Singh, Amritpal Kaur, Narpinder Singh (2016). Bioactive compounds in banana and their associated health benefits - A review Source
- David C Nieman, Nicholas D Gillitt, Dru A Henson, Wei Sha, R Andrew Shanely, Amy M Knab, Lynn Cialdella-Kam, Fuxia Jin (2012). Bananas as an energy source during exercise: a metabolomics approach Source
- Janine A Higgins (2014). Resistant starch and energy balance: impact on weight loss and maintenance Source
- Lockyer S, Nugent AP (2017). Health effects of resistant starch Source
- Ble-Castillo JL, Aparicio-Trápala MA, Francisco-Luria MU, Córdova-Uscanga R, Rodríguez-Hernández A, Méndez JD, Díaz-Zagoya JC (2010). Effects of native banana starch supplementation on body weight and insulin sensitivity in obese type 2 diabetics Source
- Gray A, Threlkeld RJ (2019). Nutritional Recommendations for Individuals with Diabetes Source
- Falcomer AL, Riquette RFR, de Lima BR, Ginani VC, Zandonadi RP (2019). Health Benefits of Green Banana Consumption: A Systematic Review Source
- Haruyo Iwasawa, Masatoshi Yamazaki (2009). Differences in Biological Response Modifier-like Activities According to the Strain and Maturity of Bananas Source
