Apple vs Banana: Which Is Less Inflammatory?
Apple
Banana
An apple is less inflammatory than a banana, but only just: both are anti-inflammatory, one point apart on the inflammation scale. Both travel well in a bag and both beat anything you would pull out of a vending machine at four in the afternoon.
The apple’s edge is quercetin, a protective compound that sits almost entirely in the skin. Eaten daily for six weeks, apples brought inflammation signals in the blood down.
Bananas take a slower road: a green one carries resistant starch that feeds the lining of your colon, but ripening turns most of that starch into sugar, so a spotted banana does much less for that lining. Eat the apple with the skin on, and when you do pick a banana, choose one that is still a little green.
Side by side
| Apple | Banana | |
|---|---|---|
| Inflammation Score | Low · 2/10 | Low · 3/10 |
| Category | Fruits | Fruits |
| Serving size | 1 medium apple (182 g) with skin | 1 medium banana (118 g) |
| Key nutrients | Quercetin, Pectin, Chlorogenic acid, Vitamin C | Resistant starch, Potassium, Vitamin B6, Fructooligosaccharides |
| How often | Daily, with the skin on | Daily, on the firmer side |
On the AIP diet
Apple
Apples are allowed on the Autoimmune Protocol from day one, elimination included. Nothing in an apple is on the list the protocol takes out. Two things to watch: the total fruit sugar across the day, which AIP asks you to keep modest, and dried apple rings, which are usually sweetened and treated with sulphites. Cooked apple with cinnamon is one of the few desserts the elimination phase leaves you.
Banana
Bananas are allowed on the Autoimmune Protocol in every phase, elimination included. They are a fruit, so they clear the grains, seeds, legumes, nightshades and dairy that AIP takes out, and they are one of the easiest things to carry when almost everything packaged is off the list. The limit is the sugar: AIP asks you to keep fruit sugar modest, and a large ripe banana uses up a good part of that.
What each one brings
Apple
- Quercetin, the main protective compound, sits almost entirely in the skin
- Eaten daily for six weeks, they brought down inflammation signals in the blood without any weight loss
- Eaten with a fatty meal, they take the edge off the inflammatory spike that follows
- Pectin, the fibre that sets jam, thickens and slows down whatever it travels with
Banana
- A green banana carries resistant starch, which your gut bacteria turn into fuel for the lining of your colon
- That lining keeps irritants from reaching your immune system, so feeding it works upstream of inflammation
- One banana covers around a tenth of a day's potassium, which pushes back against the sodium in packaged food
- A good source of vitamin B6
Watch out for
Apple
- Peeling one removes most of the polyphenols and a good share of the fibre
- Juice throws away the fibre and the skin and keeps the sugar
- High in fermentable sugars, so a sensitive gut can bloat on them
- Shop-bought sauce and dried rings are usually peeled, cooked or sweetened
Banana
- Ripening turns most of the resistant starch into sugar, so a spotted banana does less for your gut
- Banana chips are usually fried and sweetened, which makes them a different food
- Blended into a smoothie, the sugar arrives much faster than from the whole fruit
- People with kidney disease are often told to limit potassium, so check with your doctor
Get the inflammation score of any meal
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