Banana

Banana

Banana - a perennial herbaceous plant of the banana family. In nature, there are 70 kinds of bananas, from dwarf to tall (60 cm to 15 m in height). Psevdostvol banana - a strong, thick and short, it is completely hidden under the ground. Rhizomes, which are arranged spirally giant leaves in the tall varieties reach up to 4 meters in length and 90 cm in width.

Banana - berries with leathery shell and juicy flesh, elongated, cylindrical, curved sickle, cut, arranged in bunches, reaching 30-50 kg weight. In the fruit is tasty and sweet, aromatic flesh powdery white-cream color.

The most common garden varieties of bananas are banana “wise men” or an Indian banana, up to 10 m; banana Chinese, or the Cavendish banana, it is called a dwarf banana, or Canario, up to 2 m.

Sort banana “wise men” is a source of food for millions of people in tropical countries. Grade Chinese banana fruits are lighter weight, more common because of the good tolerability of the cooler climate. Sort plantain belongs to a group of mealy bananas, it is called a banana dessert. The fruit of this banana is very rich in starch, but they taste savory. Most often they are used in a boiled, baked or used to make flour.

Banana - one of the first plants cultivated by man. It is believed that all of its edible species evolved from a sharpened banana, native to the South - East Asia.

You should know that bananas, dospevayuschie on the tree, do not achieve the required flavor and aroma, and lose them. Peel and pulp of the fruit cracking easily affected diseases. Therefore, immature fruit is removed. Bought bananas should be stored in a cool - 10-12 ° C place, but not in the refrigerator. Greenish fruit stored at higher temperatures, bunches of fruit hung, and not kept in plastic bags.

In fruit pulp contains up to 80% of water, cellulose, pectin, improve digestion, starch ( 7-20 %), which when converted to ripening fruit sugar, protein - 1.3 %, carbohydrate - 25% (mainly sucrose), malic acid, tannic and aromatic substances, enzymes, vitamin C, B1, B2, B6, PP, provitamin A, catecholamines. According to the content of vitamin C is not inferior to some bananas citrus fruit: ripe fruit in a 100 g pulp is from 8 to 12 mg of this vitamin.

Bananas contain calcium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus, iron, and a lot of potassium. Aromas of fresh fruit depends on the presence of their flesh esters.

For many populations bananas are an important food that replaces bread, meat, potatoes and other foods. Eat them fresh or processed. Ripe fresh fruit is used as a dessert, immature - as a vegetable dish. Flour and jams, jellies and marmalades, syrups and wine, a coffee substitute made ​​from the pulp of the banana. They are fried and baked, boiled in oil, dried in the sun and smoked .

In the tropics, green leaves, stems, roots, fruit and peel the fruits are used as feed for cattle, elephants, pigs. Fresh and dried banana leaves are used instead of wrapping paper, plates and fibers of the leaves make a rough paper, rope, mats, fishing equipment.

Therapeutic use of bananas

* The content of diverse and easily absorbed by the human sugary nutrients and minerals, as well as the availability of a wide range of vitamins, bananas are one of the most valuable fruit plants, which are increasingly used in medical practice.

* Eating 1-2 bananas a day has sustained tonic effect: improved mood, concentration and performance, reduces fatigue, clears the body.

* To gain weight, increase muscle mass, should eat bananas every day. Sports doctors working with wrestlers, football players and weightlifters, recommend them to regularly consume this fruit.

Bananas as rice play an important role in the specific diet Japanese sumo.

Bananas, as a source of potassium and magnesium, are assigned to the fasting days of patients with atherosclerosis and hypertension, if they can not tolerate hunger.

Bananas are useful in nephritis and liver disease, urolithiasis, with dialedeznyh bleeding and stomatitis.

* In the gastro-intestinal diseases fruits bananas are recommended as a mild laxative.

* The fruit pulp contains important physiologically active substances - catecholamines: dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine. Thanks to these substances bananas are successfully used in the treatment of intestinal disease and peptic ulcers of the stomach and duodenum. In children with gastro-intestinal diseases are an effective means of crushed fruit banana.

* Bananas are prescribed for diarrhea, enteritis, ulcerative colitis and diverticulitis.

* Juice of banana has a positive therapeutic effect with hemorrhages in the stomach and duodenum, with cholera and dysentery.

* Bananas toning agent is contained ephedrine, which slightly raises blood pressure, stimulates the central nervous system, increases blood sugar levels, and has a spasmolytic effect on broncho-pulmonary muscles.

* Avicenna wrote that bananas help as a remedy for impotence.

* When an allergy is assigned banana diet that is good for the treatment of celiac disease - an allergy to gluten in some cereals, detectable, usually in young children up to 10 bananas a day, such a diet. However, the treatment of a young child suffering from this disease, you should always consult with a physician.

Bananas have sedative properties. The juice from the stalks of the plant is used as a sedative and anticonvulsant in hysteria and epilepsy. These properties of bananas have been scientifically confirmed.

* Unripe bananas crushed, dried, and then applied to diabetic ulcers on the legs.

* The healing properties and has a banana peel:

- Pack of ripe banana peel is applied to the forehead and the back of the head to relieve the pain associated with migraine;

- A decoction of the fresh green rind is used as a remedy for high blood pressure;

- The inner surface of the skin of a ripe banana is applied to burns, rashes, abscesses;

- From plantar warts there is a method of deliverance, confirmed by clinical studies: a banana skin attached to the base, the inner side to the wart, with washing of feet it is removed and then replaced with fresh. This method requires long-term treatment, but gives good results.

WARNING!!!

• Daily consumption of bananas depends on the overall condition of the body, it is not the same for different diseases. For therapeutic purposes, these fruits should be consumed in doses and only under medical supervision. Bananas - heavy enough food, they are slowly digested, produce flatulence in the intestine and impedes the flow of bile. They should be thoroughly chew and eat small portions. Do not eat bananas and drink on an empty stomach with water.

• Bananas increase the density of blood, so they are contraindicated in thrombophlebitis, varicose veins, as well as those who have suffered heart attacks and strokes.

• Bananas and banana juice should not be there in the acidity of gastric juice.

• In diabetes drug ripe banana should also be limited. But for people with diabetes are immature good food and cooked fruits and ripe banana helps with hypoglycemic episodes.