How Many Calories in a Banana?

Bananas are a common enough sight in many people’s kitchens and fruit bowls, but have you ever asked “How many calories in a banana?“. This healthy yellow fruit can vary in taste from starchy to deliciously sweet, and its texture can be soft or firm, and interestingly both the skin and inner fruit of the banana is able to be eaten.

So how many calories in a banana? The table below outlines the approximate quantities of fat, and carbohydrates (carbs) in bananas of different sizes, along with how many calories in banana. If you want to know how many kilojoules in a banana, you can simply multiple the calories by 4.2 to give you the number of kilojoules.

Banana Length Calories Fat Carbs Protein
Extra Small: Less than 6“ long 81g 72 0.27g 18.5g 0.88g
Small: 6” long 101g 90 0.33g 23.1g 1.1g
Medium: 7” long 118g 105 0.39g 27g 1.29g
Large: 8” long 136g 121 0.45g 31.1g 1.48g
Extra Large: 9” or longer 152g 135 0.5g 34.7g 1.66g

Protein in a Banana?

The table above also shows how much protein is in a banana. Although bananas aren’t considered a “protein rich” food (since bananas contain only a gram or so of protein), they are still a very important source of calories and other nutrients.

Bananas are a fantastic fruit, and they also contain a number of other vitamins and minerals. A medium or average sized banana has about 420mg of potassium, which goes a long way towards providing you with your daily-required amounts. Along with the calories in a banana, you also get small amounts of phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, and tiny amounts of sodium, iron, selenium, manganese, copper and zinc.

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Calories in a Banana

The green coloured bananas are the ones that are not yet ripe for eating. These bananas are richer in starch, and will therefore have a less sweet taste than their fully ripened brethren, so even though they are still edible, it’s usually best to allow the bananas to ripen for a few more days before consumption.

Bananas are generally considered a low calorie food (meaning there are not many calories in bananas), as well as being a healthy food. They are rich in nutrients as well as several vitamins such as Vitamin A, Vitamin B1 (thiamine), Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), Niacin, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and Vitamin K. They are delicious eaten raw, or cooked. They go famously well on toast with honey, and they can even be eaten deep fried (although there are certainly more calories in a banana that has been deep fried!)

How Many Calories are in a Banana?

Now that we have looked at how many calories are in a banana, let us turn out attention to the vitamins in a banana. For those of us who are mathematically minded, we have included the exact vitamin counts for bananas on the table below. The vitamins listed arr from a single, medium banana, eaten raw.

  • Vitamin A – 76 IU
  • Vitamin B1 (thiamine) – 0.037 mg
  • Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) – 0.086 mg
  • Niacin – 0.785 mg
  • Folate – 24 mcg
  • Pantothenic Acid – 0.394 mg
  • Vitamin B6 – 0.433 mg
  • Vitamin C – 10.3 mg
  • Vitamin E – 0.12 mg
  • Vitamin K – 0.6 mcg
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How Many Minerals and Calories in a Banana

Here are the quantities of minerals that can be found in a medium (105g) banana, when consumed fresh and uncooked.

  •  Potassium – 422 mg
  • Phosphorus – 26 mg
  • Magnesium – 32 mg
  • Calcium – 6 mg
  • Sodium – 1 mg
  • Iron – 0.31 mg
  • Selenium 1.2 mcg
  • Manganese – 0.319 mg
  • Copper – 0.092 mg
  • Zinc – 0.18 mg

Now that we have answered the question “How many calories does a banana have?“, we can work out how many calories you should eat each day to increase, decrease, or maintain your body weight, the next step is to work out how much exercise you intend to do to help with that goal. If your target is to lose 5lbs of weight, you will need to increase your exercise while at the same time decreasing the amount of calories you eat. That’s the most tried and tested way to get rid of those extra pounds.

How many calories in a banana shouldn’t stop you from eating this delicious fruit, especially if you get some exercise. Some exercises can be added to your schedule with minimal impact on your day-to-day activities. Add a brisk walk in the evenings before dinner for example. Make trips to the gym happen that little bit more often. Go for a bike ride a couple of times a week. These simple things can make a huge difference to your nutrition as well as your general health and well-being.

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