Everyone loves to eat bananas, but are they eating them at the right time?
Eating bananas with black spots instead of when they are yellow-green and unripe could mean a world of difference in terms of how they benefit the body.
The fact is, is that the riper the banana, the better anti-cancer qualities they possess.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, however, given the fact that when fruit is at its peak ripe stage, it contains the highest concentration of vitamins, minerals and crucial cancer-fighting phytonutrients. When fruit is fully ripe, it also contains all of the necessary enzymes to help aid digestion. Have you ever eaten fruit that is un-ripe and noticed stomach issues after-the-fact (heart burn, bloating, gas, indigestion, etc.?) – if you eat a mostly raw vegan diet, then you’ve experienced what I’m talking about. Unripe fruit just shouldn’t be eaten. Always eat your fruit ripe, folks!
Okay, so back to bananas. Japanese researchers have proven that ripe bananas fight cancer. The dark spots on ripe yellow bananas signal that your banana contains high levels of a substance called Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF), which destroys cancerous tumours.
If you let your bananas sit on the counter and ripen fully, they will have higher antioxidant levels, which means better immune-strengthening effects for YOU, and a higher white blood cell count. In fact, yellow-skinned bananas with dark spots were found to be 8 times more effective at enhancing the cancer-fighting properties of white blood cells than their green-skinned counterparts.
Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF-α) and Cancer
TNF-α is a cytokine (cell-signalling protein), involved in systemic inflammation and is produced chiefly by macrophages (a type of white blood cell that digests foreign substances and dead cells). The primary role of TNF is in the regulation of immune cells, and directing cell movement toward inflammation and infection sites in the body. It helps prevent the growth and spread of tumour cells and triggers apoptosis (cell death).
Studies have found that the levels of TNF-α increased significantly with dark spots on the skin, before the entire banana peel turned brown.
The study conducted by Japanese researchers found that the activity of dark-spotted bananas was comparable to that of Lentinan, a chemical immunostimulant that is intravenously administered as an anti-cancer agent to stimulate white blood cell production. One ripe banana a day (or more!) might just keep the cancer away…
Banana Benefits
Eating ripe bananas not only improves your chance of fighting cancerous cells, but it also means better digestion, moods, stronger bones, and better blood pressure. If you haven’t yet read my article on the benefits of bananas, then go do so now! You’ll be on your way to whipping up a banana smoothie in no time.
Banana Meals!
Make sure you eat bananas at their peak ripe stage before they go fully brown. Once they get past the black speckled stage, their nutrient content decreases and they aren’t as beneficial to the body. If you can’t eat them once they get to their perfect ripeness, simply peel and stick in the freezer and use for recipes later on like banana “nice” cream!
Sources:
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/fstr/15/3/15_3_275/_pdf
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf9909860
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23460481
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentinan
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