Colonic Fermentation of Unavailable Carbohydrates from Unripe Banana and its Influence over Glycemic Control

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the colonic fermentation of unavailable carbohydrates from unripe banana (mass - UBM - and starch - UBS) over parameters related to glucose and insulin response in rats. Wistar male rats were fed either a control diet, a UBM diet (5 % resistant starch - RS) or a UBS diet (10 % RS) for 28 days. In vivo (oral glucose tolerance test) and in vitro (cecum fecal fermentation, pancreatic islet insulin secretion) analyses were performed. The consumption of UBM and UBS diets by Wistar rats for 28 days improved insulin/glucose ratio. Also, pancreatic islets isolated from the test groups presented significant lower insulin secretion compared to the control group, when the same in vitro glucose stimulation was done. Total short chain fatty acids produced were higher in both experimental groups in relation to the control group. These findings suggest that UBM and UBS diets promote colonic fermentation and can influence glycemic control, improving insulin sensitivity in rats.

Health Benefits of Green Banana Consumption: A Systematic Review

“…The studies occurred in nine different countries: England [41], Sweden [42,43], Bangladesh [44,45,46], Jamaica [47], Venezuela [48], Mexico [49], Brazil [50,51,52,53,54], Nigeria [55], and India [56] (Supplementary file Figure S1) between 1984 and 2019 (Table 1). Almost 40% ( n = 7) of the studies were conducted in Brazil [50,51,52,53,54], probably due to the Brazilian banana production corresponding for about 15% of the worldwide banana production. Brazil reportedly has one of the highest banana per capita consumption (about 60 kg/year) [4,57].…”

“…Regarding the ingredients or foods used in the research, ten studies were conducted with green banana flour [41,43,49,50,51,52,53,55,56,59] and eight with the green banana pulp/biomass [42,44,45,46,47,48,54,60]. Most of the studies used green banana flour, probably due to the highest shelf-life and stability of the product compared to the green banana pulp/biomass [61], and this product is well characterized in the scientific literature.…”

Effectiveness of carbohydrates as a functional ingredient in glycemic control

“…DF has local effects, promoting a delay in gastric emptying, in starch digestion and glucose absorption, and reduction of the intestinal transit time due to the increase in volume (Jones, 2014;Klosterbuer et al, 2011). Some of these carbohydrates can be fermented in the large intestine by the intestinal microbiota (Dan et al, 2015;Licht et al, 2012;Roberfroid et al, 2010). Fermentation increases fecal bulk, modifies the pH of the colon, and produces gases and short chain fatty acids (SCFA), which are absorbed into the portal system and carried to the liver and peripheral tissues.…”

“…Among them are the ingredients made from unripe banana (Tribess et al, 2009). On rats, the daily intake of unripe banana mass (UBM) or isolated unripe banana starch (UBS) for 28 days caused a reduction of insulin secretion for the same amount of plasma glucose, and simultaneously an increase of SCFA was observed in cecal material (Dan et al, 2015). Cereal bars with UBF were tested with healthy volunteers and revealed a low-GO and low glycemic load (Santos, 2010).…”

Jaboticaba skin flour: analysis and sustainable alternative source to incorporate bioactive compounds and increase the nutritional value of cookies

“…The fruit wastes (mainly the skin) have been studied in order to be used as raw material in the development of new products or to aggregate bioactive compounds to food. Fruit skins such as those from banana (Dan et al, 2015); cashew peduncle (Alcântara, et al, 2012) and grape (Lopes et al, 2014), among others, are processed into flours, in order to use this waste to prepare food.…”