Dried banana chips are typically eaten as a snack or with nuts and chocolate. Because the chips are made from fruit, you might assume the chips are healthy. Bananas are one of the most nutritious foods and can be consumed in many different ways.
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Uses
- The benefits it offers come from its high fiber and potassium content. Many people fry and dehydrate bananas to make banana chips. These banana chips have actually become quite popular and are found everywhere – in trail mix, cereal, and healthy snack foods.
Benefits
- Potassium: Bananas contain loads of potassium, and even if you eat banana chips, potassium will still be intact mainly because cooking doesn’t destroy potassium. If you eat 1.5 ounces of banana chips, you will get about 225mg of potassium. You should know that potassium works as an electrolyte and plays a big role in maintaining normal heart contractions, muscle tone, and the distribution of water throughout your body. When there’s insufficient amount of potassium in your body, you will have to deal with weakness, cramps, edema and irregular heartbeat.
- Fiber: Bananas are a good source of dietary fiber, and it still contains enough fiber even when you cook them and eat as banana chips. You will get 3g of fiber out of 1.5-ounce serving of banana chips – this provides you with 12% of your recommended daily fiber content. Eating insufficient amount of fiber will lead to several digestive issues and bowel problems. Dietary fiber is important to keep your intestine clean – it also promotes regular bowel movements. Water-soluble fiber plays a big role in reducing cholesterol levels. Just make sure to drink plenty of water when you’re eating banana chips or other fiber-rich snacks to prevent constipation.
- Iron: Banana chips contain a good amount of iron that helps form myoglobin and hemoglobin that help transfer enough oxygen to your cells. Iron is also important to stimulate enzymes that support your metabolism. If you have a 4-ounce serving of banana chips, you will get 1.4mg of iron.
- Fat: In order to give your chips that crunchy texture you love, many manufacturers actually deep-fry banana slices. This makes those chips a very high source of fat. In fact, an ounce of banana chips will have about 9.53g of fat, and most of it (8.21) is saturated fat that can elevate your cholesterol levels and increase your risk for heart disease. Too much of saturated fat will also increase your risk for type 2 diabetes. It is therefore a good idea to eat banana chips occasionally instead of making them a regular part of your diet.
- Added Sugar: Bananas naturally contain sugar, but refined sugar used at the time of processing banana chips can be quite unhealthy. It is used to enhance the flavor of your chips. If you eat one-half cup of banana chips, you will be ingesting 12g of added sugar in your body. If you eat too much of it, you may end up dealing with diabetes, obesity, and elevated triglycerides. If you really want to enjoy dried banana chips, be sure to buy ones that don’t contain added sugar.
Caution
- Saturated Fat: The American Heart Association recommends that the average adult consume less than 16 grams of saturated fat per day. One serving of banana chips contains 10 grams of saturated fat. Therefore, banana chips contain more than 60 percent of the recommended amount for the entire day.
- Added Sugar: While fruit naturally contains sugar, refined sugar is often added to dried fruit to enhance the sweet flavor. One-half cup of dried banana chips contains 12 grams of added sugars, or 3 teaspoons. Large amounts of sugar can lead to obesity, diabetes and elevated triglycerides, or fat in the blood. Buy dried banana chips with no added sugar to help reduce excessive amounts of sugar and calories.
Interactions
Unknown, please consult with your doctor.
Other names
Banana Chips
Reference
Source: LiveStrong, http://www.livestrong.com/article/338951-dried-banana-chips-nutrition/
HealthyEating, http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/benefits-banana-chips-7707.html