Bananas: one of nature's finestpeels and all

Bananas have been around for about 4,000 years.
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Bananas date back about 4,000 years with their true origins in Malaysia. They are now grown in most tropical and sub-tropical areas throughout the world. Bananas offer benefits in a variety of ways. Not only are they a healthy food providing essential nutrients, but they can help us lose weight as well as serve a useful medicinal purpose in home remedies to relieve minor ailments. They are also a traditional part of folklore in various cultures. Hindus regard the banana plant as a symbol of fertility and prosperity and place its leaves and fruits on the doorsteps of the homes where marriages take place. Malaysian women bathe in banana leaf extracts for several days after childbirth. Whether used for food, therapeutics, or as a symbolic gesture, the banana offers wholesome goodness. [1][2]

Vitamins, minerals, and amino acids
With ingredients from all of the major food groups (fats, carbohydrates and proteins) the banana is considered a healthful part of a good diet. This fruit contain vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, which offer nutritional benefits. Bananas are rich in vitamins A, C, E and B9 (folate), which are important for antioxidant effects, bone development and maintaining blood and nervous system functioning. Bananas also have an impressive mineral content, which includes chloride, magnesium and potassium (most concentrated). These electrolytes are important for regulating water balance and muscle function. The banana also contains amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins and it has no trans-fatty acids or cholesterol, which can affect heart health. [1]

Neurotransmitters
Dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin are three important neurotransmitters that are formed in the ripe peel and pulp of a banana. Dopamine affects brain processes that control movement, emotional response, and feelings of pleasure and pain and it also plays a role in the regulation of blood pressure. A shortage of this neurotransmitter can result in uncontrolled movements such as those experienced in Parkinson disease. Norepinephrine has a stimulating effect on the nervous system. It promotes alertness and plays an important regulatory role in long-term memory and learning. It also protects the premature breakdown of endorphins. Serotonin has numerous functions that involve appetite control, sleep, memory and learning, mood and behavior, depression, cardiovascular function and muscle contraction. [2]

Bananas have nutrients in the peel and pulp.
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Antioxidants
Bananas are a good source of natural antioxidants, which include vitamins A, C, E, and beta carotene. Other antioxidants in bananas include gallocatechin and compounds that result from the degradation of chlorophyll as the fruit ripens. One study reported that the enhanced effects of antioxidants in bananas may be attributed to their gallocatechin content. This antioxidant is found in the pulp but is more abundant in the peel. Another study found that other products that result from the decomposition of chlorophyll also produce antioxidant effects. Researchers explain that the events in the ripening process are similar to the color change that occurs in leaves as they turn from green to red to yellow and then to brown, which occurs because of a breakdown of chlorophyll (recall that chlorophyll allows the plant to obtain energy from light through photosynthesis and is also responsible for the green color of leaves). When chlorophyll is broken down through the decomposition process, colorless nonfluorescing chlorophyll catabolites (NCCs) are formed. These four-pyrrole ring compounds have the opposite effect that chlorophyll has when it is broken down. Chlorophyll has a phototoxic effect as it decomposes and when it undergoes light irradiation it transfers absorbed energy to other substances. It can result in highly reactive and destructive forms of oxygen, which result in the formation of free radicals. NCCs, however, are highly active antioxidants, which scavenge free radicals thereby protecting the body from the destructive effects. [1][3][4]

Gallocatechin increases the antioxidant effects in the banana.
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Your Heart
The average banana contains 467 mg of potassium and approximately 1 mg of sodium. Potassium is an essential mineral that is important for the maintenance of normal blood pressure and heart function. One study followed over 40,000 American male health professionals over a four-year period to determine the effects of diet on blood pressure. The results indicated that men who ate diets high in potassium-rich foods had a substantially reduced risk of stroke. Another study, which followed 10,000 American adults for 19 years, confirmed that eating high fiber foods, such as bananas, helps prevent heart disease. People eating 21 grams of fiber per day had 12% less coronary heart disease (CHD) and 11% less cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to those eating 5 grams per day. Participants that ate the most water-soluble dietary fiber had a 15% risk reduction of CHD and a 10% risk reduction in CVD. In addition to the cardiovascular benefits, potassium in bananas may also help to promote bone health by counteracting increased urinary calcium loss caused by high-salt diets and so it helps to prevent bones from thinning out at a fast rate. The banana also contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which also benefit the heart. So, a banana a day may help to prevent high blood pressure and protect against heart disease. [1]

Blue Bananas
Traditionally yellow in color (there are also red, pink, purple, and black tones), bananas are actually blue as they ripen. When they are put under UV light they exhibit a luminescence, which is a result of fluorescent chlorophyll catabolites. These compounds accumulate in the banana peels during the ripening process. Researchers believe that the color is related to the decomposition of chlorophyll, which occurs as the banana ripens. The compounds accumulate in the banana peels during the ripening process and could aid animals that eat bananas and that can see in the ultraviolet range of the spectrum. [5]

The blueness of the banana as it ripens can be observed under UV light.
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Home remedies and medicinal uses
The peel and pulp of ripe bananas have antifungal and antibiotic properties, which protect the plant against fungal and bacterial infections. Bananas can also protect us through its medicinal properties. Some home remedies include the following: [2][6]

• Mosquito Bites - Rub the inside of a banana peel on a mosquito bite to reduce itching and swelling.

• Soothing Ulcers - Bananas reduce the stomach acidity that results from various foods. Their ability to perform as a natural antacid by neutralizing acidity helps to eliminate heartburn. They also provide a protective coating around the inner walls of the digestive system and so reduce irritation and promote intestinal health. And, they also relieve constipation.

• Iron Replenishment - For people suffering from a deficiency in iron, bananas help to give your body the iron that it needs. The iron content in bananas promotes hemoglobin production, which can treat anemia. It also promotes normal blood clotting, which is important for healing injuries.

• Warts - Place the outside of a banana peel around a wart by wrapping or taping it around the area. The wart will go away in time.

•   Fertilizer - A compost of banana peels can benefit your garden. As the peels decompose, they enrich the soil as the nutrients are released into it, which help plants to thrive.

Japanese Morning Banana Diet
Sumiko Watanabe, a pharmacist in Japan designed the stress-free Morning Banana Diet for her overweight husband who subsequently lost 37 pounds on it. It is a simple plan:
•   Breakfast - a banana (as many as you want) and room temperature water
•   Lunch and dinner - eat anything you like (by 8 p.m.)
•   A snack is okay at 3:00pm, but no desserts after meals and you must go to bed before midnight
The diet was then introduced on mixi, which is one of Japan's largest social networking services. Its popularity grew after a TV program featured a singer who lost 15 pounds in just six weeks on the diet. Just after that program aired, a shortage of bananas in Japan’s supermarkets was noticed. "Bananas suddenly flew off the shelves, there was a 70%-80% increase in weekly sales compared to the same period last year," says Takeshi Ozaki, a spokesperson of Life Corporation that runs 201 supermarkets throughout Japan. [7]

Banana Bread
Banana bread is a classic, good old-fashioned dessert with noteworthy health benefits. Throw in some nuts and increase nutritional and health benefits even more by boosting your immune system. Banana bread recipes that include sour cream make it super moist and provide even more health benefits. Sour cream is low in carbohydrates and can also be a carrier of probiotic cultures, which promote good intestinal health by helping in the treatment and prevention of following: [8][9]
•   diarrhea, especially following treatment with select antibiotics
•   vaginal yeast infections and urinary tract infections
•   irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
•   inflammation following colon surgery (pouchitis)
•   eczema in children
•   reduction of bladder cancer recurrence
•   shortening the duration of intestinal infections

Banana bread is chock full of nutrients.
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Bananas have a lot to offer. We use them as food, which provides us with important nutritional and health benefits and they help us to keep off unwanted pounds. We use them in traditional cultural rituals to promote fertility and prosperity. And, we use them in home remedies for medicinal purposes to treat minor maladies. So, whether you eat the pulp of a banana to enjoy its sweet nutritional and healthful goodness or use the peels in another capacity for its useful benefits, you are experiencing one of nature’s finest—peels and all!

Reference links:
1.   http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=7
2.   http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/banana.html
3.   http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6R-45J8YWK-6&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=991406755&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=703b1bd052b27d6d8fd07ec864921208
4.   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071106095637.htm
5.   http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/081022-blue-bananas.html
6.   http://www.lifescript.com/Body/Food/Good-foods/14_Banana_Health_Benefits_You_Might_Not_Know_About.aspx?p=1
7.   http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1850454,00.html
8.   http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?RecipeID=6984&servings=32
9.   http://mayoclinic.com/health/probiotics/AN00389