Unpopular opinion: Bananas are kind of gross.
I know they’re among the most universally liked foods in America — a YouGov survey of more than 2,200 adults found that 82 percent of Americans like or love them. But I’m in that 18 percent, and I couldn’t change it if I wanted to.
In fairness, I’ve wanted to, especially when I got really into running and every third person you meet wants to give you a banana to restore your potassium.
It’s not the taste. It’s the texture — the way a ripe banana sort of collapses into itself, as if I were to take a bite out of one of my daughter’s Nee-Doh squishies.
Food psychologists apparently have a clinical term for this: the “gel-like matrix” that forms from pectin breaking down during chewing. I just call it unpleasant.
Sure enough, a separate study says roughly one in five people may avoid bananas primarily for textural reasons, which tracks almost exactly with the YouGov numbers. It’s not quite the same as the cilantro-tastes-like-soap phenomenon, which is genetic — and which I also have, for what it’s worth.
Banana aversion is more psychological and sensory, rooted in associations the brain locks in during childhood and then stubbornly refuses to update. Mine have apparently not updated.
The reason I’m oversharing all of this is that a new study just came out of UC Davis that made me feel vindicated in a way I never expected.
Food and function
Published May 24 in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Food & Function, the research found that adding a banana to a berry smoothie reduces the body’s absorption of flavanols — that’s not a good thing — by 84 percent.
Flavanols are natural plant compounds found in berries, grapes, apples, cocoa, and other common smoothie ingredients, and they’re linked to heart and cognitive health. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends 400 to 600 milligrams per day for cardiometabolic health.
The culprit is an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO — the same one that turns a cut apple brown or darkens the flesh of a peeled banana left on the counter. When you blend a banana with berries, PPO activates and degrades the flavanols before your body ever gets a chance to absorb them.
“We were really surprised to see how quickly adding a single banana decreased the level of flavanols in the smoothie and the levels of flavanol absorbed in the body,” said lead author Javier Ottaviani, director of the Core Laboratory of Mars Edge and an adjunct researcher with the UC Davis Department of Nutrition.
The researchers had participants drink three things: a banana-based smoothie, a mixed berry smoothie, and a flavanol capsule used as a control. Then they analyzed blood and urine samples to measure absorption.
People who drank the banana smoothie had flavanol levels 84 percent lower than the control. The berry smoothie produced levels similar to the capsule.
A second part of the study found the effect may continue after consumption — possibly in the stomach — suggesting PPO activity doesn’t simply stop at the blender.
Mangoes, pineapples, and oranges
If your smoothie goal is to get more flavanols from your berries, grapes, or cocoa, the answer is to replace the banana with a low-PPO ingredient. The researchers specifically recommend mango, pineapple, orange, or yogurt. All of them provide creaminess or sweetness without triggering the same enzymatic reaction.
Bananas aren’t unhealthy. They provide fiber, potassium, and other nutrients, and there’s nothing wrong with eating one on its own.
But they may be the wrong partner for berries when the goal is to maximize what your body actually absorbs.
Granted, this was a small study, and nutrition experts commenting on the research have urged people not to overreact.
A banana smoothie is still nutritious even if some of us find the texture revolting.
Individual digestion and overall diet patterns matter, too.
“This is certainly an area that deserves more attention in the field of polyphenols and bioactive compounds in general,” Ottaviani said.
The team noted that tea — another major source of flavanols — could be affected by preparation methods in ways that similarly change how much your body absorbs.
About the 18 percent
Most of us who enjoy smoothies make them on autopilot. We — well, other people — put bananas in smoothies because it makes them creamy. But there’s only so much time, and the science on what these kinds of habits do to nutrient absorption is still catching up.
Still, for years, I’ve watched other people slice bananas into things and felt like I was missing out on something I should probably want. I’ve tried, but the texture just defeats me every time.
When it comes to smoothies, however, it seems I’ve been doing this right by accident for years. I’ll take it.
Just don’t get me started on mayonnaise.
Other things worth knowing …
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Reuters: The SpaceX IPO roadshow kicked off this week, with pricing set for Thursday and trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX expected to begin Friday. The company is targeting a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion and a raise of $75 billion. Elon Musk will retain about 85% of the voting control through super-voting shares.
NPR: The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading at an unprecedented pace, Africa CDC warned Monday, with 27 new cases confirmed in a single day.
AP: As the U.S. prepares for an extravagant celebration of its founding principles, fewer Americans see their country as exceptional. Only about one-quarter of Americans now say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world, while about two-thirds say a democratically elected government is highly important to the country’s identity — down from 80% in 2021.
NPR: Pope Leo XIV became the first pope in history to address the Spanish parliament Monday, calling for “moral renewal” in public life and demanding respect for migrants, the unborn, and international law. The American pope received a seven-minute standing ovation, with lawmakers chanting “Long live the Pope!” — a striking scene in one of Europe’s most secular countries.
ScienceDaily: South Australia’s koala population has grown so large that it may be heading toward a self-made disaster, with forests struggling to support the animals. Researchers say targeted fertility control could prevent widespread starvation — an unusual conservation problem in which there are simply too many koalas.
UPI: Ontario organized the world's largest game of human foosball ahead of the FIFA World Cup, with participants strapped into rotating poles on a massive field to recreate the table-top game at human scale. No word on whether any of them crashed into each other trying to spin.
Thanks for reading. I wrote about some of this at Inc.com. See you in the comments.