As fruits go, bananas are some of the most versatile. Not only can you pop them in a fruit salad, use them to bulk up a smoothie, or mash them into baked goods, but they also come with an exterior perfect for writing goofy messages on. (Don’t tell us you’ve never experienced the joy of penning a joke or silly doodle on a banana peel.)
But get this: bananas aren’t just a chameleon in the culinary sense. Each of their stages of ripeness also offers unique benefits for health. As your ’nanners pass through their brief time on Earth, they’ll affect your body differently, depending on exactly when you picked them from the bunch.
Want to learn more? Let’s peel apart the health effects of eating bananas at every point of ripeness.
Banana stages of ripeness
If you could see your starchy fruits on a molecular level, you could probably tease their ripeness apart into dozens of itty-bitty gradients. But for the purposes of visually assessing bananas (which is how most of us check them out), we’re going with five primary stages:
1.underripe
2.barely ripe
3.ripe
4.very ripe
5.overripe
Oh, and just in case you’re a banana connoisseur who fills your fruit basket with umpteen varieties of the tropical guys, we’re referring here to the Cavendish cultivar — the basic yellow banana you’ll find at most U.S. grocery stores.
Benefits of eating bananas at every stage
If you ask us, you can’t go wrong eating bananas any time. The yellow crescents are packed with nutrients like fiber, potassium, vitamin B6, and vitamin C, to name a few. For specific health benefits, though, you may prefer to time your snacking based on the following ripeness levels.
Underripe
Surprisingly, underripe bananas foster (*wink*) a host of positive effects in the body. These banana babies happen to be extremely high in fiber — even higher than ripe bananas. This is because they contain an abundance of a substance called resistant starch.
Resistant starch results in the usual benefits you might expect from fiber. It can help improve diarrhea and constipation, it promotes a healthy gut microbiome, and it may help with weight loss.
A 2018 study found that when men who were overweight or had obesity ate more resistant starch at breakfast or lunch, they ate fewer calories at dinner.
Beyond these pluses, unripe bananas’ resistant starch could also be a boon for folks with blood sugar issues.
“Resistant starch is known for blood sugar control since it is not digested in the small intestine, but rather fermented in the large intestine,” says Amanda Lane, MS, RD, CDCES.
Studies have linked resistant starch with improved insulin sensitivity — an important bonus for people with diabetes and prediabetes.
Barely ripe
After a few days on your countertop, green bananas move into the next phase of their life cycle. In this barely ripe category, bananas continue to offer some of the same advantages as their greener selves.
“Underripe and barely ripe bananas are rich in prebiotic fiber, which promotes an increase in good bacteria growth that is essential for gut health, and also aids in digestive issues,” says Carrie Gabriel, MS, RD. “This fiber also slows down our body’s ability to absorb sugar, therefore helping blood sugar spikes after meals.”
Another advantage: The lower a banana’s ripeness, the less sugar it contains. If you’re counting carbs a barely ripe banana might make a smart choice. Plus, unlike fully green bananas, barely ripe ones have begun to soften, making them tastier to eat.
Ripe
In most contexts, being called “ripe” isn’t exactly a compliment. But when it comes to bananas, peak ripeness is an indicator of palatability and nutrients. “Consuming bananas at the ideal ripeness provides the best balance of starch and sweetness, as well as maximum micronutrients such as potassium, vitamin B6, and antioxidants,” says Lane.
Potassium is a key nutrient for regulating blood pressure, which helps reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. It’s got some other tricks up its sleeve, too — like boosting bone health, keeping muscles contracting, and maintaining your body’s fluid balance.
Not to be outdone, vitamin B6 may help lower your chance of cardiovascular disease, improve cognitive function, and improve PMS symptoms.
Very ripe
This is where ‘nanas enter their sweetened-up stage.
Though they lose some of the resistant starch that gave them so many advantages earlier on, they continue to provide good nutrition (and even some health benefits).
“Very ripe and overripe bananas are rich in flavor and antioxidants, which can help benefit our immune systems,” says Gabriel. “They also take less time to digest, which can be beneficial, depending on the person.”
This phase is also where bananas become just right for adding sweetness and heft to smoothies and shakes. This might nudge you toward pairing them with other nutrient-rich ingredients like greens, yogurt, and other fruits — rounding out your diet with nutrients galore.
Overripe
With a dark brown exterior and a withered-on-the-outside, mushy-on-the-inside texture, overripe bananas won’t win any beauty contests. Still, they’re not without their benefits.
Though they’re higher in sugar than younger bananas, this natural sweetness can make them appealing to kids (or, let’s be honest, adults) who typically turn up their noses at fresh produce. “Children that prefer sweeter foods will be more likely to grab a ripe or overripe banana,” Lane points out.
All that sweetness and mush also make overripe bananas a heart-healthy, vegan, fat-free alternative to butter and oils in baking. If you’d like to cut back on saturated fat, try replacing half the butter in a baking recipe with mashed banana. (This might just require a little trial and error, as banana could cause some slight differences in your finished product.)
