🍌 Your Smoothie May Be Blocking Some of Its Own Benefits
Smoothies are often viewed as the perfect health solution: protein, fruits, greens, and powerful plant compounds blended together for performance and longevity. But new nutrition research highlights why the details matter.
A controlled crossover study published in Food & Function found that combining bananas with flavanol-rich foods like berries, cocoa, tea, or apples may reduce the body’s ability to absorb these beneficial compounds. The reason? Bananas contain high levels of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) — the same enzyme responsible for browning fruit — which can break down flavanols before your body gets the chance to use them.
Researchers found that participants who consumed a banana-based smoothie had significantly lower blood levels of flavanol compounds compared with those consuming a low-PPO berry smoothie.
What does this mean for your nutrition?
Ditch the bananas in a flavanol-rich smoothie.
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