To clear up the facts, mbg spoke with two functional medicine doctors to determine if bananas help you poop. So while green bananas are good for overall gut health, the resistant starches will be harder to digest. “Thus, they can cause or aggravate preexisting constipation,” one study says1. In fact, family physician Bindiya Gandhi, M.D., says they have been shown to help manage diarrhea2. Bottom line: Since they’re high in prebiotics and resistant starch, green bananas are good for creating a healthy gut microbiome. However, they’re hard to digest and may contribute to constipation. Yellow bananas are also relatively high in soluble and insoluble fibers (about 3 grams per medium-size banana), which helps promote regularity3. Bottom line: Yellow bananas have a higher sugar content than green bananas, but because they’re lower in resistant starches, they may aid in digestion and promote regularity. For those who aren’t affected, though, brown bananas can be beneficial for digestion because of their low resistant starches. They’re also the highest in antioxidants4, according to Carrasco. Bottom line: Brown bananas will help to sweeten smoothies or banana bread because most of their starch has converted to sugars. They are easy to digest, which may help ease constipation. Anyone with sensitivity to excess sugars or carbohydrates may have inflammatory responses.
