If you are adding a banana to your morning smoothie, stop it. It blocks most of the heart-healthy flavanols which are in the other fruits in your drink, such as apples, berries and grapes.
When you pop a banana into the mix, up to 84 percent of flavanols don’t get absorbed by the body, say researchers at the University of California at Davis.
Bananas contain an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase (PPO) that interferes with flavanol availability. Flavanols are bioactive compounds that improve heart and brain health, blood flow, support memory, and reduce inflammation. They are found in most fruits—except bananas.
PPO is actually a process that can happen to most fruit. It’s the browning that happens to fruits such as apples if they’re cut open and not eaten—but PPOs are naturally in bananas.
The researchers made two smoothies: one with fruits and banana and another only with mixed berries, which they gave to a group of volunteers who were afterwards also given a flavanol supplement.
The results were striking. People who drank the banana smoothie had 84 percent lower flavanol levels than those given the supplement.
If you enjoy a banana smoothie, don’t mix it with other fruit, the researchers advise.
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