Green Bananas Help Relieve Diarrhea

Diarrhea is frequently associated with an upset stomach caused by an infection or food poisoning. Interestingly, giving cooked, green bananas to children with diarrhea has been shown in multiple trials to help reduce the number, severity, and duration of episodes.

In fact, one research revealed that adding cooked green bananas to a diet nearly quadrupled the effectiveness of eliminating diarrhea. Green bananas have strong antidiarrheal properties due to a type of fiber called resistant starch that they possess. Humans cannot digest resistant starch, thus it passes through the digestive tract and into the colon, the last section of the intestines. Once in the colon, your gut bacteria slowly ferment it to produce short-chain fatty acids, which encourage your intestines to absorb more water and firm up your stools. While these results are promising, additional research is needed to determine whether green bananas have the same antidiarrheal properties in adults.