Bananas: The Ideal Food for Humans Greenville SC

Bananas: The Ideal Food for Humans

by Dr. T.C. Fry

From Living Nutrition vol 8

Bananas deserve the highest rank as food for humans. It is one of the oldest foods of humans and has been treasured for its deliciousness. The ancients referred to the banana plant as the "Paradise Tree" and its fruit as the fruit of paradise. Never has there been a more apropos description of a food. Bananas are one of our most important foods and deserve a far greater role in our diet—in fact, they should be our foremost item of diet as they are with many tropical peoples, who also eat other tropical fruits such as breadfruit, jackfruit, coconut, mango, etc.

We are a class of frugivores that achieved our high development with fruits of the tree as the bulk of our diet. Fruits of the tree in our pristine habitat were mostly sweet fruits such as bananas, figs, grapes and dates.

In its general suitability and beneficence in the human diet few foods approach the banana. It is, ecologically and biologically, our most ideal food. Dates, figs, grapes, melons and oranges, quite common foods, deserve a place in our diet but in the final analysis, the banana wins on practically every count: economy, nutrition, convenience, plenitude, deliciousness, etc. Apples are a wholesome food but they are woefully deficient in protein, having only 0.2% by dry weight and then only two or three of the essential amino acids, whereas bananas have all the essential amino acids and have about 5.2% protein dry weight.

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