Huh. I am admittedly neither a doctor nor chemist, but I was told this by a doctor, and anecdotally bananas seem to help me with reflux. Looking on the web, there does seem to be conflicting advice.
I'd heard claims like that before and I was curious so I googled a bit more.
It sounds like there's this thing "PRAL" or "potential renal acid load" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_renal_acid_load where the affect on stomach acid can be different from a food's pH. But again, the wikipedia article links to some random people's blogs and a single research article from 2019. I'm not sure if this is well supported by research.
Exactly- this is based on how it alters urine pH, and there is a whole alternative medicine thing around assuming this is extremely important- but the entire idea seems unconvincing to me. Both stomach and blood pH are carefully regulated by feedback control and don’t themselves change much based on foods.
Huh. I am admittedly neither a doctor nor chemist, but I was told this by a doctor, and anecdotally bananas seem to help me with reflux. Looking on the web, there does seem to be conflicting advice.
I'd heard claims like that before and I was curious so I googled a bit more.
It sounds like there's this thing "PRAL" or "potential renal acid load" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_renal_acid_load where the affect on stomach acid can be different from a food's pH. But again, the wikipedia article links to some random people's blogs and a single research article from 2019. I'm not sure if this is well supported by research.
Exactly- this is based on how it alters urine pH, and there is a whole alternative medicine thing around assuming this is extremely important- but the entire idea seems unconvincing to me. Both stomach and blood pH are carefully regulated by feedback control and don’t themselves change much based on foods.
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They are high in fibre and can thicken the fluid in the stomach. Maybe that's how they help.
It depends. There are varieties of bananas & plantains that are high in latex, and can cause reflux and allergies for some people.
I assume 99% of the bananas consumed in the US are Cavendish.