Green Banana Resistant Starch

Botanical name

Musa acuminata subsp. Banksia

What is The History of Green Banana Resistant Starch?

There has been much discussion about the origins of the humble banana, and it may come as a surprise to many that botanists refer to the banana as the ‘first fruit’.

There has been archaeological evidence of banana cultivation uncovered in Papua New Guinea dating back to 8000BC, which is why the banana also takes the accolade of being the world’s first cultivated fruit.

Originally from the region that includes the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea, traders and missionaries took bananas with them as they travelled to India, Africa and Polynesia. In about 650AD it is believed that these bananas from the Asian region were cross bred with a species of banana in Africa which now gives us the fruit we grow and enjoy today.

Early Arabic traders gave the banana their name. Bananas were all about the length of a human finger, so they got called ‘banan’ based on the Arabic word for finger.

It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that bananas were introduced to the North Queensland tropics, brought in by Chinese migrants coming to work in our gold fields. Plantations were established in Cooktown, Port Douglas, Cairns, Innisfail and Tully.

Targets and Mechanisms of Action

Green banana resistant starch is a multi-fibre food providing a unique combination of various fibres such as soluble, insoluble and fermentable fibre. As these substances move through the digestive track, they provide many useful functions to the microbiome and help promote gut health and protect against a wide variety of bowel diseases.

Green banana resistant starch has also been found to be high in the essential minerals potassium, zinc, magnesium, phosphorous and manganese.

Microbiome

• High in prebiotic fibre, to nourish beneficial gut bacteria and support the immune system by promoting a healthy microbiome and boosting beneficial probiotics especially ruminococcus bromii, akkermansia and bifidobacteria

Digestive Tract

• Fermentation of resistant starch produces beneficial short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as butyrate acetate, propionate, and valerate which are a powerful bioactives that provides energy to gut cells, modifies gene expression, grow healthy gut tissue, and modulates immune function
• Increase production of organic acids - lactate, succinate, and formate
• Increases the production of branched SCFAs - isobutyrate and isovalerat)
• Triggers the reabsorption of water in the gut via sodium uptake
• High fibre and resistant starches increase faecal bulk, faecal pH, epithelial apoptosis (abnormal cell death), and it decreases cell proliferation markers and colon carcinogenesis

Obesity/Weight Control

• Rich in inulin to regulate digestion and improve metabolism
• Improves the feeling of fullness and makes you feel fuller for longer by increasing secretion of the putative satiety hormones GLP-1 and PYY,
• Helps maintain a healthy weight and promote fat mobilization as the result of a reduction in insulin secretion

Anti-Diabetic

• Helps regulate blood sugar by lowering post meal glucose concentrations and concomitant insulin response
• Shows an improvement in glycaemic control 

Nerves/Mood

• An excellent source of 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan)
• Boosts serotonin levels to balance your mood
• Prevents headaches and migraine
• Improves sleep and insomnia by improving melatonin production

Cardiovascular

• Helps to lower blood pressure
• Reduces total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides

Antioxidant

• Increases the antioxidant capacity of food
• Reduces oxidant stress in the gut lumen which mediates damage to the cells and tissues
• Reduces reactive oxygen species (ROS), preventing the harmful action of free-radicals on DNA, proteins, and lipids
• Provides protective properties against degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer, Parkinson, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases 

Bone Growth

• Increases mineral absorption—especially calcium—and aids in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis

 

* These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA or TGA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.