23 replies to this topic

[Kim69]

I see lots of people can eat bananas where they have sensitivities to other foods. And comments that bananas are easy to digest. If I eat a banana I get crippling stomach pain and usually vomit. I can eat banana cake just fine.

I am wondering if anyone has the same experience or has an idea of why. It might help me work out what other foods I need to avoid. I am suspecting tomatoes and potatoes and perhaps gluten-free pasta so far.

[txplowgirl]

Hi Kim, I have always had a problem with bananas. Had the same symptoms as you. Never could understand why, but it looks like it might have been fructose malabsorption. Check that out. I finally am able to eat bananas without getting sick after being gluten free for 2 years.
Tomatoes and potatoes are from the nightshade family. The nightshade vegetables has toxins in them that make people sick. Potatoes, tomatoes, all bell peppers, eggplant, okra, etc. The nightshades will cause bone, joint pain as well as swelling.
Good luck.

[srall]

I knew bananas were a big problem even before I figured out the gluten/dairy/corn/soy puzzle. I don't know why. I too assume it's the fructose. They make me so nauseous that I really don't care if I get them back or not.

[ohsotired]

I have (had?) problems with bananas too. Not crippling stomach pain, but a serious belly ache that makes me nauseous and thinking I'd feel better if I just threw up (TMI sorry).
I can eat them baked in things or fried with no problems.

I kind of wonder if this problem may have been fixed after almost 3 years of being gluten free. I haven't been brave enough to try.

[Molly R]

Ditto. I also tolerate bananas much better now, if they are cooked. Just an unscientific theory, but maybe I'm much more careful now and that's why they agree with me lately.

I say that because, since going gluten free I have become ultra careful to be sure that food is not only free of my personal offenders & cross contamination, but also free of bacteria. I have morphed into a mad food washer. A little gross that I honestly never thought to before, but now I scrub the crap outside of bananas before eating, and rinse thoroughly. And I seem to do so much better with them now.

When you slice into a banana that has not been washed properly, and then using the same dirty hands to take it out of the peel, you really contaminate it. And even if the banana is organic, it has to be picked and processed by someone who could certainly have dirty hands, then it sits in sun with flys in a truck somewhere, open to other possibly harmful contaminates I don't even want to ponder. So maybe the cooking is killing the contaminates.

Not sure, like I said, just a theory.

[Terri O]

I never thought about this but I never cared for bananas. I ate maybe one a year. Now that I am gluten-free I have probably eaten more of them in a month than in my whole life! Thinking of them doesnt make me feel ill any more...and now I can eat apples too! Weird! Terri O

[cassP]

I see lots of people can eat bananas where they have sensitivities to other foods. And comments that bananas are easy to digest. If I eat a banana I get crippling stomach pain and usually vomit. I can eat banana cake just fine.

I am wondering if anyone has the same experience or has an idea of why. It might help me work out what other foods I need to avoid. I am suspecting tomatoes and potatoes and perhaps gluten-free pasta so far.

yes- i do- and im not so sure it has to do with the fructose malabsorption thing. just my own theory really.
if i eat a banana BY ITSELF- i will get hot & nauseous- and reflux- and almost IMMEDIATE "RUN TO THE BATHROOM" and vomit feeling- it is awful- i discovered this in my early 20s- way before i knew anything about wheat or gluten,etc.

**this also happens for me with: hot green tea, any white tea, & purple onions. seriously. i THOUGHT that maybe i got like this with green tea- because it dropped my blood pressure too quick.. but i think i just personally have an adverse reaction to these few things- the vomiting can be so immediate & violent.

so- ya- i found out YEARS AGO that i COULD eat a banana- as long as i ate it with something- almond buter, toast, ice cream- anything- and i'll be okay.

in this recent year- with all the pain i was getting from pears- i realized i have a fructose problem- and since then to be on the safe side- i only eat 1/2 a banana at a time- and pretty ripe. the pain i get from fructose is worse than gluten & pretty debhilitating- not nausea at all.

but lately- even the 1/2 of banana WITH something is kind of turning my stomach- ?? i dont know if im getting an ulcer or something??

[gf_soph]

There's 2 possibilities that I can think of, other than a simple banana intolerance.

Bananas contain a type of amine that people can be sensitive to. Amines are found in most meats (especially cured), cheese (especially matured or ripened), chocolate, and bananas. I can't remember all the amine sources all at the moment, look in to the RPA elimination diet or failsafe diet for more info. It's possible to be sensitive to only one type of amine, so you may have a particular sensitivity to the type in bananas. Amines in bananas increase as the fruit ripen, so if you are more sensitive to ripe or overripe bananas it may be of interest.

Fructose is a potential problem too. The fructose content decreases in bananas as they ripen, so if you had a problem with fructose you may notice your reactions are worse with under ripe or just ripe bananas. Many people with fructose problems can reduce their symptoms by adding some glucose to the banana. It has to be glucose as it assists with the absorption of excess fructose. Regular sugar doesn't help, as it is half glucose and half fructose already. I eat my bananas perfectly yellow - definitely no green, but no significant browning or bruising. I often freeze them in half banana portions to get the ripeness just right.

At the moment I am a bit sensitive to bananas, so I limit them to half a day and always eat them with about a tea spoon of powdered glucose. I tolerate them pretty ok this way. If I don't have glucose with them I get some itching, but I never itch with the glucose.

Hope that makes some sense!

[eatmeat4good]

That makes sense about the amine increasing in ripe bananas. I hate ripe bananas. I love them slightly greenish or all yellow, but any brown spots and I wanna throw them away. They make me feel overly full and unwell. I think they are supposed to be good for you for the potassium, but they make me sick. Starch? Sugar? I don't know. But I don't eat them anymore.

[Kim69]

Thanks for all your replies! I am not game to eat one. It's kind've nice to know I am not alone.

[jstwnttbhealthy]

i do get a delayed reaction of abdominal pain/cramping when i eat them - and i love bananas! i've read that they can cross react with ragweed which i'm allergic to. i'm hoping that someday i will be able to eat them again.

[frieze]

?enzymes
also, there may be cross reactivity with
kiwi.

[Racer_J]

Hi Kim, I have always had a problem with bananas. Had the same symptoms as you. Never could understand why, but it looks like it might have been fructose malabsorption. Check that out. I finally am able to eat bananas without getting sick after being gluten free for 2 years.

Most of the FODMAP lists I have looked at have bananas listed as safe as long as they are ripe (covered in brown spots with no green at the tips). This was something I recently looked into as I thought I might be having a fructose issue being the avocados have started giving my an itchy throat that almost feels like it wants to swell. I have also been having issues with other items high in fructose. However, I don't have an issue with apples or honey which are incredibly high in fructose and are at the top of a don't eat list when it comes to FODMAP so I'm pretty sure there is another issue at play.

That makes sense about the amine increasing in ripe bananas. I hate ripe bananas. I love them slightly greenish or all yellow, but any brown spots and I wanna throw them away. They make me feel overly full and unwell. I think they are supposed to be good for you for the potassium, but they make me sick. Starch? Sugar? I don't know. But I don't eat them anymore.

The way I understand it, unripe bananas (any banana that isn't covered in brown spots and has no green at the tips) will be high in starch which is why they are not allowed on SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) and other similar diets. Once they fully ripen (covered in brown spots with no green at the tips) all the starch has converted to sugar and so they are allowed on the SCD and similar diets.

Personally, I like mine a little unripe but that is because I cut out any and all added sugar 2-3 years ago so they are just to sweet for me. That's really the result of bananas being selectively bred for decades though to be sweeter and sweeter due to all the increased sugar in the typical processed food filled diet. However, slightly unripe bananas have started leaving me pretty gassy and by gassy I mean is there a toxic gas leak gassy. I now eat them only fully ripened and I just deal with the sweetness and potential food cravings the sugar may or may not trigger.


For whatever reason at the end of the day, some people don't do well with bananas even if they aren't eating a lot of them. I seem to recall reading something that said avocado and banana allergies are actually somewhat "common". However, they aren't top eight allergen common. I think quite a few people that try a "fruititarian" diet wind up realizing they don't do well with bananas but, I think the banana consumption on that type of the diet would be considered absurdly high. To be fair most people will think the 46.82 lbs of bananas I eat a month might seem absurdly high as well but, I eat other stuff and that is the only fruit in my diet. It's probably that level of banana ingestion that has me unable to handle "unripe" bananas lol . . .

[mushroom]

OMG, the very thought of a pound and half of RIPE bananas a day makes me want to barf I am definitely in the no-brown-spots camp when it comes to bananas. The only exception I make is for banana bread, where it doesn't really count anyway. Even the texture of a ripe banana, let alone the sweetness, gets to me. Of course I am a big avocado eater and again, on the slightly firmer side. I must be a starch junky, not a sugar one, although I do like my chocolate, but I think it's the cocoa butter, not the sugar

[Racer_J]

OMG, the very thought of a pound and half of RIPE bananas a day makes me want to barf I am definitely in the no-brown-spots camp when it comes to bananas. The only exception I make is for banana bread, where it doesn't really count anyway. Even the texture of a ripe banana, let alone the sweetness, gets to me. Of course I am a big avocado eater and again, on the slightly firmer side. I must be a starch junky, not a sugar one, although I do like my chocolate, but I think it's the cocoa butter, not the sugar

My father feels the same way you do about bananas. I told him how many of them I have been eating and I could hear him cringing over the phone as he said he could only eat two bananas a day if that lol. It's definitely "different" eating so many bananas in one day and it certainly isn't for everyone. I'm not always looking forward to one but, it's not anything I have to force myself to eat either. I think most people tend to be starch junkies rather than sugar ones. I know a lot of people have a sweet tooth (which believe or not I don't) but, starches fill you up longer than sugar does and I feel that leads to a subconscious urge to consume starch over sugar in some people. Thankfully, I don't really miss starch but I do mis the taste and texture of steel cut oats and brown rice. I don't do well with any grains, pseudo-grains, or groats though so that's life.

I have tried "firmer" avocados in the past albeit unintentionally. I didn't really care for them that way but when I say "firmer" I mean pretty firm. It just had an off taste but the texture was rather interesting. When I could eat them though, I preferred them to be ripe enough to where the "meat" would fall out after you cut the avocado in half and scored the "meat". That will probably make it sound like I ate them overripe but, there was no discoloration in the "meat" and it wasn't mushy. It did easily mash up with a fork though. It is almost impossible to get them to that level of ripeness. Then again, I didn't have a lot of practice with them before they started to make my throat itch and feel like it was going to swell leading to me bidding them a fond farewell.