A-Z of bananas

By Craig Glenday

Think you know everything there is to know about bananas? Think again?

A is for Anaemia
If you're anaemic, eating bananas - which are rich in iron - can stimulate the production of haemoglobin in the blood.

B is for Blood pressure
Doctors in India have discovered that eating two bananas a day can reduce blood pressure by 10% in just one week.

C is for Constipation
High-fibre bananas act like laxatives, helping with bowel function and combating constipation.

D is for Depression
Mental health charity MIND carried out a survey of people suffering from depression. It was found that a significant number of patients felt better after eating a banana.

E is for Ethylene
As fruits ripen, they give off ethylene gas, and bananas produce a remarkably large amount of the stuff. Fruits can also absorb ethylene, so any other pieces of fruit next to a banana will ripen faster. If you want to avoid this, store your bananas away from other fruit, preferably on a banana tree.

F is for Fairtrade
In the UK, bananas are the latest products to join the growing range of Fairtrade foods. The Fairtrade Mark was introduced in 1994 to help small producers get a fair deal.

G is for Green
A green skin is a sign that a banana is unripe. It also means that the fruit contains a lot of starch and is therefore difficult to digest. The more yellow-brown the fruit, the easier it is to digest and absorb the vitamins.

H is for Hypertension
An American study of bananas concluded that eating five bananas a day was 50% as effective as taking prescription medication to reduce hypertension. This had been put down to the banana's high potassium and low sodium levels.

I is for India
The first Europeans to set eyes on bananas was probably Alexander the Great, who is believed to have come across them in India in 327 BC.