This Banana May Help Your Body Release GLP-1

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]Green unripe bananas are loaded with a gut-boosting compound called resistant starch. And resistant starch is a carbohydrate that passes through your stomach and small intestine untouched and arrives in your colon. This is where it can act like a prebiotic fiber and feed the good bacteria in your gut. And one of its unique properties is that it produces a short-chain fatty acid called butyrate. Butyrate could stimulate your gut to release GLP-1. This is the same hormone that mimics Ozempic, but at a fraction of its power. Studies have shown that it may help with weight management and improve insulin sensitivity. But to get resistant starch and butyrate, you must choose green bananas, not yellow. This is crucial because green bananas contain mostly starch, which makes up 70 to 80% of their dry weight. And as you might guess, a lot of that starch is our favorite resistant starch. However, as bananas ripen, their starch gradually converts into simple sugars like sucrose, glucose, and fructose, which is why ripe bananas taste so sweet.