THE BENEFICIAL BANANA“Antibacterial and phytochemical analysis of banana fruit peel,” ISOR-

Journal of Pharmacy,Volume 4, Issue 8 (August 2014), pp. 18–25 !1

Grown in 122 countries, ranking 4th behind rice, corn, milk

Banana peel used as biofuel and in manufacture of pulp and paper, cosmetics, and organic fertilizer, and used in environmental clean-up, plus

Naturally slightly radioactive, more so than most other fruits, because of their potassium content

Ripe bananas and banana leaves fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet light, supposedly helping animals who see light in this spectrum find food

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Xofc_wikipedia

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Many varieties of bananas have seeds; however, Cavendish bananas, which is the type that most people eat in America, do not have viable seeds. They do not produce seeds because they

are a cross between bananas. Some people call Cavendish bananas clones.

The black dots in the middle of the banana are immature seeds that never develop. Cavendish bananas made up 47% of the bananas produced worldwide in 2000. The skin is green, turns yellow when ripe, and black when overripe. Once they

are picked, however, the bananas will not turn yellow naturally and require ethylene to start ripening again.

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MEDICINAL VALUES

All parts of the banana plant have been used medicinally—the flowers, sap, young leaves, roots—and have been used for many illnesses, from bronchitis, to ulcers, to burns, to stroke. You can read about this in the referenced article, but one part that has been recently researched is the antibacterial activity of banana peels.

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TESTED AGAINST

E. coli

Staph. aureus

Klebsiella pneumoniae

Salmonella typhi

And other bacteria!8

“Thus extracts from the plant can be used to control infections caused

by Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and

Staphylococcus aureus [MRSA]. Opportunistic infections such as

bronchopneumonia, bacterial endocarditis and meningitis caused by

Micrococcus Spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa will also find

treatment with the extracts of this medicinal peel. . . . incidents of

epidemics due to drug resistant microorganisms pose an enormous

threat to public health. The use of medicinal plants with antimicrobial

activity need[s] to be given more attention to arrest the

situation.” (Ehiowemwenguan, G., et. al, “Antibacterial and

phytochemical analysis of banana fruit peel,” IOSR-Journal of

Pharmacy, Volume 4, Issue 8 [August 2014], pp. 23, 24)

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There are more than 500 types of bananas. By far the most common banana in the United States is the Cavendish. A

growing number of markets also sell so-called “finger bananas”—a term for a variety of small bananas.

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!12 Apple bananas

!13 Plantain-like finger bananas

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!15 Cavendish

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TimothyPilgrim_wikipedia

http://www.iosrphr.org/papers/v4i08/D04801018025.pdf

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