Bananas are popular and affordable fruits that are available all year round. It has an undeniable appeal among adults and children alike. All the parts of the plant including roots, stems, leaves, fruits, and flowers play vital roles in local and traditional medicine in Asia, India, and Africa.
Bananas are packed with nutrients including fiber, vitamins - pro-vitamin A carotenoids, antioxidants, minerals - potassium. Fibers in bananas help in digestion. Potassium improves lung function. Banana increases the absorption of other nutrients. Water-soluble phenolic acids in bananas can reduce asthma inflammation.
Parts of banana trees have been traditionally used for treating fever, cough, bronchitis, dysentery, and allergic infections. Banana plants exhibit various pharmacological activities including antioxidant, antidiabetic, anticancer, antimicrobial, and immunomodulatory.
Despite these benefits, there exists a few unanswered questions raising dilemmas regarding banana consumption, especially during cough and cold. Can bananas make you cough? Does eating a banana worsen your cough? Is banana linked to a cough or cold at all?
You must have come across these questions before. To get the correct answers and finally put a stop to this dilemma is to dig deeper into the underlying science.
Let’s understand what scientific evidence reveals.
Can bananas make you cough?
Anything too cold, sour, or spicy can irritate the throat causing a cough. An infection or irritation in air passage can also produce a cough. Cough can also stem from an allergy to any irritant ingested like a banana.
Bananas are the least allergenic food. About 0.04% to 1.2% of the general population are allergic to bananas. However, it can be seen in up to 67% and 46% of people with asthma or atopic dermatitis respectively.
Bananas can be associated with allergies like pollen-fruit allergy syndrome, latex-fruit syndrome, and anaphylaxis.
Let’s look at those which show cough as one of the symptoms.
- Latex-fruit syndrome
If you have a latex allergy, then you might also have a latex-fruit allergy. Almost 40% of patients with latex allergy are known to have latex–fruit syndrome. It causes respiratory syndromes including cough after eating bananas.
- Anaphylaxis
It starts with symptoms including a swollen tongue, wheezing, coughing, and difficulty breathing after eating a banana, it can lead to severe life-threatening situations without immediate intervention.
A study projects about 4.5% of food allergies in adolescents and adults with asthma, rhinitis, or both. Bananas are one of the major allergens (allergy-causing substances) that induce allergic rhinitis symptoms including coughing and congestion of the nose in patients with asthma or allergic rhinitis.
Even though asthma and allergic rhinitis patients are not truly allergic to bananas, they still avoid eating them to stay away from adverse reactions or aggravating the symptoms.
So, how do you know if you are allergic to bananas? You can visit your healthcare provider to undergo a skin prick test. It is the most common test for the diagnosis of allergy.
Additionally, high exposure to banana ripening agents may induce cough in some individuals.
Why is banana linked to cough and cold?
A study suggested that banana a day may increase the odds of wheezing, but not of asthma.
Additionally, banana consumption may induce cold-like symptoms in coughing in food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis (FDEIA). FDEIA is a rare, severe allergic reaction that develops exclusively when any physical activity is followed by food ingestion usually within a few hours.
The patient may show symptoms including rhinorrhea, and nasal congestion among other symptoms almost immediately after eating two bananas post-exercise.
Can you eat bananas during a cold?
Banana is a histamine-rich fruit. Ingestion of histamine-rich food that releases histamine may provoke congestion of the nose and asthmatic wheezing. Our body usually can break histamine in food. However, it is a good idea to avoid histamine-rich food like bananas during cold till you recover.
Consumption of banana can cause liberation of histamine, which in turn, can increase mucus production. Lectin, a protein in bananas can activate the cells producing histamine to release it, leading to the symptoms in individuals with an allergy to bananas.
Is banana good for sore throat?
Do bananas help with sore throat? Bananas are high in vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6, and other nutrients that are curative when suffering from a sore throat. So, you can eat bananas for sore throat healing.
Can you eat a banana when you have a sore throat?
Definitely! Apart from the healing benefits, their softness makes them easy–to–swallow food. Such mushy food is comforting to a sore throat.
What are the potential reasons for coughing after eating bananas?
- Existing conditions like asthma or allergic rhinitis
- Allergies associated with banana
- Exposure to ripening agents of banana
Can you eat a banana while coughing?
Is banana bad for cough? Not for all kinds of cough!
Eating bananas while coughing can be remedial in some cases. Let’s see how!
A banana can be your ally if you tend to cough due to acid reflux. Banana is an alkaline fruit, rich in pectin. Pectin in bananas prevents the food from staying long in the stomach limiting acid production. This reduces the likelihood of acid reflux and associated symptoms including coughing.
Banana is still your best bet if you are suffering from a dry cough. Eating a banana with a teaspoon of honey and two pinches of black pepper daily is an effective remedy for a dry cough.
Conclusion
So, can bananas make you cough? Bananas can trigger cough in some individuals if they are allergic to bananas or if suffering from any existing conditions like allergic rhinitis or asthma.
If you are having a sore throat along with other cold symptoms, then bananas can be an inexpensive food option that is easy to swallow and helps in healing the sore throat too.
A study shows that bananas can increase white blood cells, improve immune system function, and strengthen your resistance to infectious diseases.
Therefore, eating bananas may cause cough in some individuals, its consumption can be a preemptive measure to keep colds and coughs at bay in otherwise healthy individuals without any allergies.
Meet our expert
Meet our expert
Dr. Burtseva Tamara Viktorivna is a pediatrician by profession based out of Ukraine. In 2004, Dr. Viktorivna graduated from Ukraine's Donetsk Medical University where she specialised in pediatric studies. She then gathered extensive experience on ground until 2011 at city polyclinic No. 1 in Donetsk, where she worked as a pediatrician handling a variety of cases.
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