Health benefits of bananas & banana chips as a healthy snack choice

Bananas are one of the most widely consumed fruits in the world. Eating them could help lower blood pressure and reduce the risks of cancer and asthma.

Bananas are rich in a mineral called potassium. This mineral is important because it helps maintain fluid levels in the body and regulates the movement of nutrients and waste products in and out of cells.

Bananas are fruit that grow on a banana tree, most farmers plant them in rows leaving space between the trees to allow space for harvesting. As a child I used to play in those farms because my grandmother is a farmer and had a big acreage of banana plantations among other things.

Below is a mature banana tree with the mature fruit. The tree, even though called a tree it is not of wood nature but is of herb nature in the family of ginger, it is not consumed as ginger, I am making reference to ginger tree to describe the banana tree.
The fruit seen on the picture below is still green and can be used to cook mashed bananas or boiled, can also be fried as unripened plantain.

Some farmers sell them unripened like the one above and some leave them on the trees until they are ripe then cut them like in the picture below

Potassium also helps muscles to contract and nerve cells to respond. It keeps the heart beating regularly and can reduce the effect of sodium on blood pressure.

Potassium may reduce the risk of kidney stones forming as people age. In turn, healthy kidneys make sure that the right amount of potassium is kept in the body.

Bananas provide a variety of vitamins and minerals:

Vitamin B6 - .5 mg
Manganese - .3 mg
Vitamin C - 9 mg
Potassium - 450 mg
Dietary Fiber - 3g
Protein - 1 g
Magnesium - 34 mg
Folate - 25.0 mcg
Riboflavin - .1 mg
Niacin - .8 mg
Vitamin A - 81 IU
Iron - .3 mg
The recommended intake of potassium for adults is 4,700 milligrams per day.

In the recent past my mother introduced me to banana chips, which basically is bananas fried in coconut oil which is also packed with nutrients (will discuss coconut oil in another top). Instead of regular chips, I opt to eat the banana chips which quench's the sweet tooth and allow me to indulge in the fried food taste.

Bananas can also be used to make wine which is made by fermenting peeled, mashed, ripe bananas. Water is added to dilute the rather thick banana mash, wine yeast and sugar is also added