The efficacy and function of banana

Bananas are delicious and many people like to eat them. Not only are they delicious, they also have many benefits and functions.

Bananas can help the brain produce a chemical component in the human body - serotonin. This substance can stimulate the nervous system, bring people signals of joy, calmness and sleepiness, and even have analgesic effects. Therefore, bananas are also called "happy food". American medical experts have found that eating bananas regularly can prevent high blood pressure, because bananas can provide more potassium ions that can lower blood pressure, and have the effect of resisting the increase in blood pressure and damage to blood vessels caused by sodium ions. They also believe that if people lack potassium, they will experience dizziness, general weakness and arrhythmia. Because bananas contain a variety of nutrients, low sodium content, and no cholesterol, they can provide the human body with various nutrients after eating without making people fat. Therefore, eating bananas regularly is not only beneficial to the brain and prevents nerve fatigue, but also has the effect of moistening the lungs, relieving coughs, and preventing constipation.

Bananas are sweet and cold in nature, and have high medicinal value. Their main functions are to cleanse the intestines and stomach, treat constipation, clear away heat and moisten the lungs, stop thirst, replenish essence, and detoxify alcohol. Since bananas are cold in nature, people with spleen and stomach deficiency, stomach pain, and diarrhea should eat less, and those with excessive stomach acid should not eat them.

Pharmacological effects of banana :

The pulp contains a lot of norepinephrine, 5-hydroxytryptamine and dihydroxyphenylethylamine. Those produced in Japan contain 10-15 micrograms/gram of 5-hydroxytryptamine. According to measurements, the norepinephrine content in bananas produced in Uganda is 2 micrograms/gram, and the 5-hydroxytryptamine content is 16.2 micrograms/gram.

Daily intake of 10 mg of 5-HT does not affect gastrointestinal function, but excessive intake may cause gastrointestinal dysfunction.

Bananas should not be eaten when measuring urinary indoles or catecholamines.

Unripe banana pulp has a preventive (taken at the same time) or therapeutic (taken 15 days after taking phenylbutazone) effect on guinea pigs' gastric ulcers induced by phenylbutazone. It also has a protective effect on rats' gastric ulcers induced by enforced immobility, but is ineffective against those induced by prednisone.

This protective effect may be due to the serotonin contained in it, which reduces gastric acid, and the banana pulp, which relieves irritation. It has no anticholinergic effect and no central nervous system inhibitory effect.

The juice of banana leaves and stems (containing 5-hydroxytryptamine but not Dopa or norepinephrine) can contract the isolated guinea pig ileum and rat duodenum, and increase blood pressure in dogs and rats. These effects can be antagonized by atropine and tolazoline.

The methanol extract of dry leaves and stems has antibacterial effects; the water-soluble part of the methanol extract of ripe banana pulp has antifungal and bacterial effects.