Viral image shows a banana's health benefits vary depending on ripeness
An annotated image has gone viral online as it provides clarity to those wondering what the term 'ripe' actually means in terms of bananas and whether it's safe to eat the really green and the mostly brown ones.
It turns out the skin colour can help indicate the health benefits of the fruit within, according to The Verge green is not only OK for consumption, it actually contains a great deal of 'resistant' starch which is great fuel for good gut bacteria and is lower in natural sugars.
A post shared by Sports Dietitian Ryan Pinto (@highperformancenutritionau) on Jul 2, 2019 at 10:02pm PDT
if the banana's outsides are yellow and spotless it's a sign that the fibre content is still high in the sugars are a bit more pronounced.
Yellow with a very light smattering of spots is what most consider 'ripe' and serves as a sign of the banana is lower in starch, smoother and packed with antioxidants.
Lots of small to medium brown spot suggests the banana will be sweeter, but not a prize winner in the nutritional value department.
Largely brown means it's pretty much all sugar and super low in fibre, however they are still perfectly edible and make excellent banana bread!