Bananas offer several health benefits mainly because of the several nutrients they contain. A banana can be anywhere between 2.5 inches and 12 inches in size. They all are loaded with vitamin C, fiber, potassium, and vitamin B-6. One fact to clear is that the starch in bananas turns into sugars when they ripen, and many people would wonder about how much sugar in a banana. However, people with diabetes should also take the carbohydrate content into consideration to compensate the sugar that contained in bananas.

How Much Sugar in a Banana?

The amount of sugar found in bananas depends heavily on their sizes. While smaller bananas have about 10g of sugar, larger bananas may have up to 19g of sugar. Here are more details about sugar in a banana of different size.

How Can Sugar in Banana Affect Your Blood Health?

Now that you know how much sugar in a banana,you may want to learn more about exactly how sugar in banana affects your health. Glycemic index is a figure used to evaluate how foods affect the blood sugar levels. It compares the effect of foods that contain carbohydrates on blood sugar with the effect of glucose on blood sugar. Any food with a glycemic index of less than 55 is low-glycemic index food, which will not cause a large spike in your blood sugar levels.Bananas have a glycemic index of 52, which make bananas safe to eat for diabetics in moderate amount.

Another figure to evaluate the effects of bananas on blood health is the glycemic load—a number that estimates how much the blood glucose levels are increased by a food. Compared to glycemic index, glycemic load provides you with accurate information about the effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels: less than 10 (including 10) is regarded as low GL; a range of 11 to 19 is assumed as medium GL; more than 20 (including 20) is considered as high. An all-yellow ripe banana has glycemic load of 13, and a general banana's GL can fall in to the medium group. This reminds people with diabetes to watch the portion size of bananas in diet, and avoid eating overly ripe bananas.

Other Nutrients in Banana

While bananas may contain a good amount of sugar, they also have several other nutrients that make them quite beneficial for your overall health. For instance, a 100g serving of raw bananas contain about 89 calories with 75% of water, 12.2g of sugar, and 22.8g of carbs. And the carbohydrate content in bananas makes it an instant source of energy.They also have 2.6g of fiber that makes you feel full quickly and improves digestion as well.

You will also get 1.1g of protein with 0.03g of monounsaturated and 0.07g of polyunsaturated fats. Bananas are also a source of omega3s and omega6s – you will get 0.03g of omega3 and 0.05g of omega6 from every 100g serving. They also contain about 5g of glucose and 4.9g of lactose.

Other Health Benefits of Bananas

Being a rich source of fiber, bananas are loaded with vitamin B6 and potassium. Potassium helps maintain your blood pressure and regulate your heartbeat. Vitamin B6 is essential for many metabolic processes, such as production of neurotransmitters, protein metabolism, immune function, glucose and glycogen metabolism, and hemoglobin formation. Some studies show that bananas have a phytonutrient called 2-pentanone that may help prevent colon cancer.

Bananas are quite beneficial for health, but that does not mean you should only eat bananas. You should aim for maintaining a balanced diet that includes bananas as well as other fruits and vegetables that contain minerals, vitamins, and phytonutrients.

Sugar Content in Other Fruits

While you may wonder how much sugar in a banana,other healthy fruits also contain a relatively large amount of sugar. Fruit has a type of sugar called fructose, but they do not have added sugar. Here is more about sugar content in other fruits. Sugar content is measured per 100g of each kind of fruit.