Banana is the most loved fruit type in the world.  Unlike popular perception, the banana is not a tree, but a herb that grows high even till 15 m. There are almost a thousand varieties of bananas in the world with over 50 sub-types.

Bananas are cultivated in over 150 countries and mostly for domestic consumption. Bananas that are locally consumed have a huge part to play in food security in tropical countries.

Bananas are rich in nutrients and antioxidants. Here are a few health benefits of bananas, which you can keep in mind while creating fruit baskets:

• Rich in Potassium and Magnesium: Potassium improves health of heart and counters high blood pressure.
• Rich in pectin, a type of fibre: Helps in digestion and excretion.
• Rich in Vitamins C, A and B6. Vitamin B6 helps prevent diabetes, makes the nervous and immune system strong and aids in weight loss. Vitamin A helps improve health of eyes. Vitamin C boosts immunity.
• Free of cholesterol, sodium and fat.
• Rich in antioxidants that counter harmful free radicals in body. They help fight cancer.
• Rich in Tryptophans: These produce serotonin, which improves mood and counters depression.

Apart from these, here are some interesting facts about bananas:

• Bananas might have been the first fruit to be cultivated going back to as early as 8000 BC.
• On an average, 100 bananas are consumed on an average by a person in UK.
• The name banana comes from the Arabic word- ‘Banan’ meaning finger.
•  The trunk of a banana is not made of wood but of overlapping leaves.
•  Banana skin can be used to treat itchy skin for a mosquito bite.
• Bananas are produced in sub-tropical and tropical areas of Asia, Africa and the Americas.
• Banana is classified as a perennial herb and the fruit as a berry.
• Almost all bananas are derived from the type called as Cavendish bananas, native to South East Asia.
• Cavendish replaced a variety called as Gros Michel, which was made extinct by fungal infection.
• Gros Michel was tastier, larger and had better shelf life than the Cavendish variety.
• Some botanists believe that the Cavendish is headed for the same fate as the Gros Michel, in the near future.
• A medium sized banana contains around 95 calories. It provides fats but sustained boost of energy in an easily digestible, nutritious and natural form lacking cholesterol and sodium.
• Fyffes, the first British suppliers of bananas got its first banana consignment 124 years ago (in 1888).
• A banana stem is made of ‘hands’, consisting of 10 – 20 bananas. On splitting a hand, bananas become ‘clusters’ usually made of 3-8 bananas.
• Shoes can be polished using inside of banana peel.
• Wild bananas grow all over South East Asia but many are inedible.
• Most bananas are consumed domestically. Only 15% is kept for export, globally.
• Bananas make for excellent fruit gifts UK.
• Plantains refer to raw bananas, used for cooking.

These are some interesting facts about bananas.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 20th, 2016 at 7:17 am and is filed under Fruits Basket. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.