This yr was shaping as much as be a banner yr for bananas: they had been lauded as “2026’s massive viral style”, landed delight of place as Prada’s new lip balm taste, and had been even deemed “the following pumpkin spice”.
However this summer season, the Mel Robbins Podcast featured Dr Rhonda Patrick, a biomedical scientist, who stated that including banana to a blueberry smoothie might adversely have an effect on the dietary advantages of the berries.
May the beloved mashup of blueberries and bananas actually be a nasty match?
What’s the declare about bananas affecting the dietary worth of blueberries?
Patrick’s declare concerned an enzyme known as polyphenol oxidase, which seems in bananas, and polyphenols, an umbrella time period for a various household of antioxidant compounds present in vegetation – together with blueberries.
“Polyphenol oxidase, it’s basically an enzyme that’s breaking down the polyphenols. And there have now been research … displaying when you add bananas to blueberries, you’re not getting as many polyphenols. In truth, it’s fairly a bit decrease. So the banana is killing the profit,” she stated.
The almost definitely supply for Patrick’s declare is a 2023 examine that explored how polyphenol oxidase affected the physique’s absorption of explicit polyphenols known as flavanols.
The examine discovered that members who drank banana smoothies with added flavanol had decrease blood ranges of those antioxidants than those that drank mixed-berry smoothies with the identical additive.
Does this examine help the banana-blueberry declare?
There are a number of causes to not rely too closely on this examine for this particular declare.
To start with, the researchers “by no means, ever made a smoothie with bananas and blueberries collectively”, says Dr Joe Schwarcz, a science communicator and director of McGill College’s workplace for science and society.
Additional, the examine “solely had eight topics … not a sufficiently big quantity to have vital conclusions”, says Schwarcz.
However zooming out to the results of polyphenol oxidase on flavanols, “there’s a statistical distinction within the quantity of polyphenols that could be current in your smoothie as the results of the banana,” says Schwarcz.
I reached out to Patrick at her well being content material firm, FoundMyFitness, to make clear her declare. A spokesperson, Dan (their full title was not offered on request), responded by e mail: “The truth that this enzyme breaks down some polyphenols is actually past reproach and never depending on anyone examine she cites.”
A physique of analysis does help that polyphenol oxidase influences the antioxidative capability of various compounds in fruit and greens in numerous other ways.
However context is vital. Blueberries include a number of kinds of polyphenols. Anthocyanins, that are answerable for the colour of blueberries, are proportionally extra vital and ample within the fruit than flavanols, says Schwarcz.
Anthocyanins are related to a spread of potential well being advantages, together with diminished danger of total mortality, heart problems and sort 2 diabetes.
Thus, what this examine measured was “not even the vital compounds of blueberries”, says Schwarcz.
Lastly, this examine was funded by the Mars firm – and the flavanols used on this mission had been derived from cocoa.
“And it simply so occurs that [Mars] sells flavanol dietary supplements” and chocolate, which incorporates flavanols, says Schwarcz.
Can vitamins really ‘cancel one another out’?
Sure, they’ll. “Nutrient interactions in meals are literally fairly widespread,” says Alyssa Northrop, a registered dietitian primarily based in Minneapolis.
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“Some vitamins improve the absorption of different vitamins, like vitamin C and iron. Others can cut back absorption, such because the oxalates in spinach, which bind to calcium and cut back its bioavailability.”
However within the grand scheme of your weight loss plan, Northrop says you shouldn’t lose sleep over such interactions.
“Moderately than attempting to micromanage each meals mixture, I encourage folks to concentrate on the larger image: eat a diversified weight loss plan with loads of fruits, greens, entire grains, nuts, seeds and different nutrient-dense meals to fulfill your physique’s wants,” she says.
Consuming too few vegatables and fruits is an even bigger concern than optimizing polyphenol absorption from each smoothie, says Northrop.
“Most of us aren’t consuming the really useful 5 servings of vegatables and fruits each day. If including a banana makes a berry smoothie extra scrumptious and encourages somebody to eat extra fruit, I see that as a win,” she says.
“Bananas are sometimes added to smoothies for his or her pure sweetness and distinctive texture that may make the smoothie thick and creamy,” says Sheri Gaw, a registered dietitian nutritionist primarily based within the San Francisco Bay Space. Moreover, bananas are simply accessible, cheap and wholesome. They include potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese and magnesium, together with about 3 grams of fiber per medium fruit.
Ought to we be frightened about not getting sufficient polyphenols?
Polyphenol-rich meals have been related to a spread of potential well being advantages, together with supporting cardiovascular and metabolic well being, selling a wholesome intestine microbiome, and serving to forestall persistent ailments, says Northrop.
Proof means that consuming between 400 and 600mg of flavanols each day from meals corresponding to inexperienced tea, cocoa and apples might help cardiometabolic well being, together with potential enhancements in blood strain, ldl cholesterol and blood sugar regulation.
However not like with vitamin and mineral deficiencies, which might trigger distinct unfavourable well being results, “we don’t know the physiological results of polyphenol insufficiency on well being. Polyphenols should not thought of important vitamins, and there isn’t a longtime really useful each day consumption for whole polyphenols,” Northrop says.
If you happen to’re actually frightened about your berry smoothie’s flavanol ranges, add fruit that’s decrease in polyphenol oxidase than banana, corresponding to mango or pineapple.
Or, experiment with completely different components. “Oats, yogurt, silken tofu, kefir, avocado and frozen cauliflower are common smoothie add-ins that may supply the same creamy thickness as a banana,” Gaw provides.
Do I really want to cease placing bananas in my berry smoothie?
“Within the context of your total weight loss plan,” the interaction of bananas and berries is “insignificant”, says Schwarcz. Total, it’s good to eat quite a lot of fruits, and we profit from their diversified antioxidant compounds.
Schwarcz has seen the thought of specializing in a particular meals element and its influence on human well being bubble up in diet literature for years.
“Your well being is a really advanced enterprise of diet, of genetics, of your exercise ranges. And to attempt to make an enormous deal out of whether or not you place a banana in your smoothie or not – it’s simply scientific nonsense,” he says. “It makes no sensible distinction in your life.”