The banana. Tasty and healthy according to many. They have a sweet taste and contain various vitamins, fiber and minerals. But… are those bananas really that good for your blood sugar?

In this blog we show how the blood sugar level can react after eating a banana and how you can use the Clear Food Score to see at a glance whether a meal is good or not so good for you.

Our blood glucose after eating a banana

A lot of data is available from Clear, which has enabled us to help many people improve their blood sugar levels. We can test the knowledge of science against our own data and thus advise our participants even better in the future.

One thing has become very clear from our data: Clear participants love bananas! To do this, we anonymously analyzed hundreds of individual reactions to a banana. The graph below shows the average difference in blood sugar levels in the 30 minutes before ingestion, up to 2 hours after eating a banana.

This average reaction to a banana is considered a good reaction. The carbohydrates in a banana cause a rise in your blood sugar level and your body then produces insulin to lower the sugar level again.

 

Banana and blood sugar: different reactions

Does this mean everyone reacts this way to a banana? No, not that. We see that there are generally 3 different reactions to a banana among the participants.

The graph below shows a group that peaks (grey), a little (orange) or hardly (black) on a banana. The group that hardly peaks on a banana also experiences a drop in glucose. A drop in glucose can lead to a feeling of hunger again and to an energy dip.

The Clear Food Score: good or bad at a glance

Such a curve can be quite difficult to understand. That is why you will find the Clear Food Score in our app. This shows you how quickly your blood sugar rises and how quickly it drops again after eating a certain meal or snack.

This score is between 0 (poor) and 100 (good). The higher the Food Score of your meal, the better the response to your blood sugar was. This applies from a score of 70 or higher. With a rapid rise in your blood sugar level, you get a low Food Score, which means that you can use this to improve your meal.

Example of a good food score:

Example of a bad food score:

So does your banana give you a score of 70 or higher? Then nothing is wrong. For example, is the score 21? Then we give you tips to adjust this meal.

For example, you can take a smaller banana. Because the smaller the banana, the fewer carbohydrates and the lower the rise. Or choose a banana that is not yet ripe. The riper the banana (yellow/brown), the higher the sugar content. And therefore a faster rise in your blood sugar level.

Finally, you could eat the banana together with a handful of nuts to limit the rise in your sugar level. Proteins, fats and fibers ensure that the carbohydrates are less quickly absorbed into your blood.

Is my blood sugar response to a banana the same as other meals?

No definitely not. It’s not that the people who don’t peak at a banana don’t peak at anything else. It is also not the case that people who do peak on a banana always have a higher blood sugar level than those who do not peak on a banana.

Do you want to know more about our program? Then read about the Clear.bio treatment.