So you are diagnosed with fatty liver, looking for a diet that helps reduce fatty liver and you stumbled upon bananas in your kitchen. You are thinking whether you should eat one from the bunch. The thought are bananas good for fatty liver or not can only be answered if we analyze the nutrients found in the banana. Let’s analyze some of the important nutrients found in the banana.
MIXTURE OF FATS
There are two types of fats, saturated and unsaturated fats where the latter is better than the former. The bad news is a banana has 0.11 gram of saturated fats and you should stay away from this form of fats. This can increase fat on your liver.
Banana also has .06 gram of unsaturated fats. That is it has .03gram of monounsaturated fat and .03 gram of omega-3 fat as well. These are good types of fats which help to transfer insulin at the cellular level. Therefore, reducing the load on the fatty liver which becomes insulin resistant. Otherwise, your liver would have turned this insulin into fat on your liver means more trouble.
So banana has more bad fats than good fats. So it’s a thumb down.
VITAMIN C
Vitamin C found in Banana can help restore fatty liver if you are taking some medicine to lower bad cholesterol in your body along with Vitamin E supplement. So just the vitamin E found in the banana will not help on its own.
So Banana’s Vitamin C alone is Neutral for the liver.
POTASSIUM (K)
If your fatty liver is not because of alcohol then a good quantity of potassium in the body helps in improving the state of declining liver. A banana typically has 358mg per 100-gram serving. Studies have shown that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has relation with low levels of potassium in the body. The increased amount of potassium in the body can help a non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
So Banana’s potassium is a thumbs up but for the non-alcoholic liver disease.
VITAMIN B6 AND PROTEIN
The bad news is the Vitamin B6 found in banana is not beneficial for the fatty liver. A medium-sized banana has the potential to provide one-third of total Vitamin B6 required by the body for a day. Vitamin B6 over consumption along with higher protein intake has shown in studies to increase fats in the liver. 100 gram of banana intake offers 1.09 grams of protein as well.
So Banana Vitamin’s E along with its protein is a thumbs Down.
CATECHIN
Banana has a low quantity of catechin which according to a study carried out in 2013 showed that patients who had more catechin in their diet lowered their weight thus reducing the number of fats in the body. But catechin in banana is in quite low quantity to help significantly. Green tea on other hand has an effective quantity of Catechins.
So Banana Catechin’s low quantity is not much help. It’s a thumbs up but a negligible one.
CONCLUSION: Are Bananas Good For Fatty Liver?
To conclude if you are suffering from fatty liver then you should stick with the recommended diet and medication. The nutrients found in bananas both help and damage your recovery towards a healthy liver. My personal point of view is to stay away from anything that scars your liver by any level. The nutrients found in banana which helps in improving the liver can be found in other food items too. These other food items may not have damaging nutrients.
Bottom line: It’s worth to stick to a strict diet than to increase your suffering by consuming a banana.
