Bananas vs. Energy Drinks during exercise

According to a scientific study bananas can refuel your body just as effectively as an energy drink[1].

In the study, 14 male athletes cycled a 75-km road race, during which they refuelled with either half a banana plus water, or a cup of energy drink, about every 15 minutes. Three weeks later, the athletes repeated the experiment but switched what they ate during the race.

The study concludes: BAN (banana) and CHO (carbohydrate drink) ingestion during 75-km cycling resulted in similar performance, blood glucose, inflammation, oxidative stress, and innate immune levels.

But the researchers also discovered that the bananas contained serotonin and dopamine, which seemed to improve the body’s antioxidant capacity and help with oxidative stress.

“The banana, we think, is like this wonderful athletic package where you get the sugars you need, you get the vitamins and electrolytes that the body likes during exercise, and this very unique molecule dopamine that can help with the oxidative stress, all at one third the cost of energy drinks,” lead-author professor Nieman says.

The only thing that worries me a bit is the fact that the study was paid for by Dole, a leading banana producer. Nieman says he receives no compensation from the company. “All I care about is the scientific truth,” he says.

[1] Nieman et al: Bananas as an Energy Source during Exercise: A Metabolomics Approach in PloS One – 2012. See here.