16 Facts of Banana for Depression Prevention

By a viral email forward which claims that bananas can alleviate depression according to the University of Hawaii. This information is not correct. However, although a banana cannot explicitly treat depression, some of its nutrients may help your body fight against depression.

• The amino acid tryptophan helps your body make serotonin, a brain chemical that regulates mood.
• Feelings of clinical depression stem from low serotonin levels; hence, depressed people, tend to have low levels of tryptophan. 
• Although bananas contain tryptophan, they only contain a very small amount.
• Combined with the benefits of B vitamins, the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin, the so-called "happy hormone," helps improve mood and overall feelings of well-being.
• Nearly all protein-based foods also include tryptophan; hence, bananas do not provide a unique or particularly significant source. 
• The serotonin in a banana can't reach the brain simply by eating the banana. 
• In order for anything to reach the brain, it must cross the blood-brain barrier, and not everything can cross this barrier. 
• Furthermore, that is not how our body provides our brains with serotonin.
• Our bodies synthesize serotonin through a process that involves the use of vitamin B6. 
• Bananas happen to be a very good source of vitamin B6. 
• The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamin B6 for adult men and women ages 19 to 50 is 1.3 milligrams (mg).
• One medium banana has 0.4 mg of vitamin B6, about 20 percent of the RDA, so you'd literally have to eat a whole bunch of them, five bananas, per day if they were your only source of vitamin B6.
• In fact, just one banana can provide the average adult with about one-fifth of the recommended daily allowance of that vitamin.
• A lack of B6 increases your risk of developing depression, and a sufficient amount decreases the risk. 
• Insomnia is another common symptom of depression. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, foods that contain tryptophan can help a person fall asleep more easily. 
• Hence, eating a banana shortly before going to bed at night may help prevent or reduce insomnia.

Therefore, eating bananas can fight depression, just not in the way it is sometimes claimed. Rather, by eating a banana a person is giving their body the necessary tools to make the chemical that is needed to help maintain their mood and possibly avoid depression.