Bananas are a hair-healthy fruit containing nutrients like potassium, magnesium, and vitamin B-6 that can counteract hair loss and promote growing healthy hair. These nutrients help promote blood flow to provide cells with the proteins they need to build keratin, the protein your hair is made of. The antioxidants in bananas like vitamin C can also help prevent premature greying.
Hair Healthy Nutrients in Bananas
One 126g banana contains the following hair-healthy nutrients:
- Magnesium - 34 mg
- Potassium - 451 mg
- Copper - 0.098 mg
- Vitamin C - 11 mg
- Riboflavin - 0.092 mg
- Niacin - 0.838 mg
- Vitamin B-6 - 0.462 mg
- Folate - 25.2 µg
By adding bananas to your daily routine you can help ensure your body is getting enough of these nutrients to reap the hair benefits below.
Bananas Impact on Hair Growth and Loss
The nutrients in bananas like magnesium help with hair growth by working with your body to form the keratin proteins that make up your hair. Magnesium also helps transport nutrients into your cells to fuel their growth. A lack of magnesium can lead to hair loss, and one banana is ~10% of your daily recommendation!
The niacin, magnesium, and potassium help increase circulation to your hair and scalp fueling the growth of healthy hair. Potassium also works to improve scalp conditions like dry and flaky skin, helps heal wounds left behind from scratching your scalp, and maintain your skin barrier. In addition it leaves your hair soft and hydrated by trapping moisture in, while a lack of potassium can lead to brittle, rough hair, and hair loss.
Bananas also contain folate, also known as folic acid, which promotes hair growth by encouraging the synthesis of new cells, including the factories (called keratinocytes) that produce the keratin for your hair. The Vitamin B-6 in bananas works with folate, playing a key role in preventing anemias that can lead to hair loss, like iron deficiency anemia, by helping your body produce red blood cells. A lack of folate can also lead to iron deficiency due to too few red blood cells to safely store iron in the body, causing hair loss.
Two vitamins in bananas, Vitamin B-6, and Vitamin C, promote hair growth by breaking down proteins into amino acids that are then recycled by keratinocytes to produce keratin, leading to thicker, stronger hair!
Eating bananas can significantly help you keep up with your vitamin needs, as bananas cover ~36% of your vitamin B-6 and ~15% of your vitamin C daily requirements.
Bananas Help Protect Against Hair Damage
Bananas are also rich in antioxidants called polyphenols that target the molecules called free radicals in your body that appear from oxidative stress. Antioxidants, including vitamin C, eliminate the free radicals, helping reverse the damage. As a bonus, eliminating free radicals may also help prevent premature greying!
How to Add Bananas to Your Daily Routine
Bananas are easy to add to breakfast through slices in your granola, on your pancakes, or mixed into oatmeal. They are also easy to sneak into your day as a hair-healthy snack on their own or in a smoothie. Freeze-dried bananas make a great no-mess snack and the nutrients are comparable to fresh bananas.
If you’re gluten-free, banana flour can be used for baking instead of regular flour when making your favorite desserts. Generally, 1 cup of wheat flour can be substituted for ¾ cup of banana flour.
Bananas are a fruit your hair and scalp will go “bananas” for thanks to their potassium, B-6, niacin, and other hair and scalp healthy nutrients.