Plantain: tested as medicine for sick children

The strongest evidence about plantain was collected in hospitals, in children with diarrhoea. Pooling nine randomised trials in 3996 children aged 8 to 34 months, green banana added to standard care nearly doubled the hazard of diarrhoea resolving (HR 1.96, 95% CI 1.62 to 2.37, I2 52%), and seven of those nine trials were open label. The effect was larger in persistent diarrhoea at 2.34 (95% CI 1.78 to 3.08) than in acute illness at 1.74 (1.45 to 2.09). The one trial that names plantain rather than green banana is smaller. In 80 hospitalised children aged 1 to 28 months with diarrhoea of at least two weeks, a diet built on 50 g of cooked green plantain per litre shortened the illness by 18 hours against an isocaloric yogurt diet (P < 0.005). That was one hospital, without blinding. Every one of these trials ran in hospital, with the fruit added to standard treatment. The one study that put plantain flour in place of the standard rehydration salts recorded a fall in blood sodium and potassium in some of the children who drank it. None of this was measured in adults, and none of it was fried.

The numbers, per 100 g

How much is actually in it

• Ripeness rewrites the plantain: sugars run from 2.4 g per 100 g underripe to 19.2 g overripe, an eightfold move, while total carbohydrate barely shifts from 33.6 to 29.2 g. — USDA Foundation Foods records for plantains at three ripeness stages, sampled in the same release (n = 3 Foundation records) Evidence E source
  Underripe 144.5 kcal, sugars 2.412 g, fibre 2.53 g; ripe 122.8 kcal, sugars 14.243 g, fibre 2.125 g; overripe 117.3 kcal, sugars 19.166 g, fibre 1.792 g per 100 g

What a real portion looks like

• One whole plantain is 180 g in the US dietary survey, so a single fruit carries roughly 220 kcal raw and about 710 mg of potassium. — FNDDS household measure for Plantain, raw, with USDA cup weights for the cooked forms Evidence E source
  1 whole plantain 180 g; 1 cup green boiled 137 g, 1 cup green fried 118 g, 1 cup yellow baked 139 g, 1 cup yellow fried 169 g

What your body absorbs

• In 57 boys with persistent diarrhoea, a week of rice with cooked green banana cut lactulose recovery, raised mannitol recovery and halved stool weight, the two moving together at r squared 0.84. Pectin did the same in the same trial. — 57 boys aged 5 to 12 months with diarrhoea of 14 days or more, given a week of a rice-based diet with cooked green banana (n = 19), pectin (n = 17) or rice alone (n = 21) (n = 57) Evidence B source
  Lower lactulose recovery, higher mannitol recovery and a lower lactulose to mannitol ratio (P < 0.05), with a 50% reduction in stool weight correlating at r squared 0.84

What cooking and storage change

• Frying is the step that changes the food: green fried plantain carries 309 kcal per 100 g against 121 boiled, and its vitamin C falls to 3.4 mg from 20.1 in the raw ripe fruit. — USDA SR Legacy records for plantains prepared four ways, compared against the raw Foundation records (n = 4 records) Evidence E source
  Green fried 309 kcal and vitamin C 3.4 mg; yellow fried 236 kcal; yellow baked 155 kcal and vitamin C 16.4 mg; green boiled 121 kcal and vitamin C 9.1 mg per 100 g

What it does to your health

• Pooling nine randomised trials in 3996 children aged 8 to 34 months, green banana added to standard care nearly doubled the hazard of diarrhoea resolving, 1.96, and worked hardest in persistent diarrhoea at 2.34. — 3996 children aged 8 to 34 months in nine randomised controlled trials, seven open and two blinded, with antidiarrhoeal medication excluded (n = 3996) Evidence A source
  Hazard ratio for resolution 1.96 (95% CI 1.62 to 2.37), I2 52%; persistent diarrhoea 2.34 (1.78 to 3.08) against acute 1.74 (1.45 to 2.09)
• In 80 hospitalised children with diarrhoea lasting two weeks or more, a diet built on 50 g per litre of cooked green plantain shortened the illness by 18 hours against a yogurt diet. — 80 children of both sexes aged 1 to 28 months with at least 14 days of persistent diarrhoea, randomised to an isocaloric 100 kcal/kg/day diet of cooked green plantain or yogurt for one week in hospital (n = 80) Evidence B source
  Diarrhoea 18 hours shorter (P < 0.005), lower stool output and better consistency (P < 0.002), higher daily weight gain (P < 0.001), and lower cost (P < 0.005)
• In 73 children with Shigella dysentery on ciprofloxacin, adding 250 g per litre of cooked green banana to a rice diet for five days raised clinical success from 67% to 85%. — 73 children aged 6 to 60 months with severe bloody dysentery caused by Shigella, all on ciprofloxacin, randomised double-blind to a rice diet with or without cooked green banana for 5 days (n = 73) Evidence B source
  Clinical success 85% against 67% (P < 0.05), faecal blood cleared in 96% against 60% (P < 0.05), mean faecal volume 25% to 40% lower, lower faecal myeloperoxidase and higher faecal short-chain fatty acids (both P < 0.01)
• A rehydration solution of 50 g per litre plantain flour rehydrated 88.0% of 117 children against 85.9% on WHO oral rehydration salts, a difference that was not significant (p = 0.634), while stool output fell from 8.45 to 4.69 g per kg per hour. — 238 children with acute diarrhoeal dehydration, 121 given WHO oral rehydration salts and 117 a plantain flour solution with 3.5 g per litre sodium chloride (n = 238) Evidence B source
  Rehydration success 88.0% against 85.9% (p = 0.634), stool output 4.69 against 8.45 g/kg/h (p = 0.00053), solution intake 21.17 against 24.56 ml/kg/h (p = 0.00782)

Safety, limits and interactions

• The same plantain flour rehydration trial recorded the cost of leaving out the standard salts: blood sodium and potassium fell in some of the 117 children who got it. — 117 children with acute diarrhoeal dehydration given a plantain flour solution with 3.5 g per litre sodium chloride and no added potassium (n = 117) Evidence B source
  Decrease in blood sodium and potassium in some children in the plantain group, with no such note for the WHO oral rehydration salts group
• Potassium has no upper limit for healthy kidneys. That is exactly why a food carrying 289 to 507 mg per 100 g, depending on how it is cooked, needs a caveat: with chronic kidney disease or certain drugs, even intakes below the adequate intake can cause hyperkalaemia. — adults with normal kidney function contrasted with people with impaired urinary potassium excretion from chronic kidney disease or medication Evidence E source
  No upper limit set for potassium; hyperkalaemia possible below the adequate intake in impaired excretion, with muscle weakness, paralysis, palpitations and arrhythmias in severe cases
• The drug interaction to know is with blood pressure medicines: ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers cut urinary potassium loss, and experts advise monitoring potassium in people taking them. — people taking ACE inhibitors such as benazepril or angiotensin receptor blockers such as losartan, especially with impaired kidney function Evidence E source
  Reduced urinary potassium excretion leading to possible hyperkalaemia, with monitoring advised
• The banana family is a latex cross-reactive food, and in 96 spina bifida patients the fruit antibodies almost always appeared after the latex ones rather than before. — 96 patients with spina bifida tested up to three times over a mean of 2 years and a maximum of 7 for specific IgE against natural rubber latex, banana and kiwi (n = 96) Evidence C source
  Fruit antibodies in 4% of latex-negative patients against 8% with banana or kiwi antibodies among latex-positive; 4 latex-sensitised patients newly developed banana antibodies during follow-up; only 3 patients had symptoms

What people believe that the data does not support

• The blood sugar claim does not survive pooling: across 18 studies of unripe plantain and related foods, heterogeneity reached 98% and the authors said the combined effect sizes were not usable. — 18 case-controlled studies of unripe plantain, bitter yam, okra and chitosan in type 2 diabetes, seven of them on unripe plantain, with interventions lasting 3 to 84 days (n = 18 studies) Evidence C source
  I2 of 98%, so a prediction interval was used instead of a confidence interval: mean difference 4.4 mg/dL (95% prediction interval -6.65 to 15.50) and 3.4 mg/dL (-23.65 to 30.50)

Who this works differently for

• Among 1074 pregnant women in Cameroon, naming banana or plantain and tubers as the bulk of the main meal went with higher odds of total hypocalcaemia, an odds ratio of 1.37. — 1074 apparently healthy women in late pregnancy at four maternities in the Nkongsamba Health District, Cameroon, November 2020 to September 2021 (n = 1074) Evidence C source
  Adjusted odds ratio 1.37 (p = 0.012) for total crude hypocalcaemia; prevalence of total crude hypocalcaemia 61.64% against only 2.89% for ionised hypocalcaemia

What is still unknown

• The systematic review that gathered 18 green banana studies ended by asking for the one thing missing from all of them: a standard dose, variety and ripeness level. — 18 studies of green banana products, ten using green banana flour and eight using green banana pulp or biomass (n = 18 studies) Evidence C source
  Benefits reported mainly for gastrointestinal symptoms, then glycaemic and insulin metabolism, weight control and diabetic renal and liver complications, with one study of eighteen not confirming the proposed benefit

The bottom line

Two more trials fill out the picture, and both are in children. In 73 children aged 6 to 60 months with severe Shigella dysentery, all of them taking ciprofloxacin, adding 250 g of cooked green banana per litre to a rice diet for five days raised clinical success from 67% to 85% (P < 0.05). Faecal blood cleared in 96% against 60% in that trial, which measures the food as an add-on to an antibiotic at one centre. In 238 children with acute diarrhoeal dehydration, a solution of 50 g of plantain flour per litre with 3.5 g of sodium chloride rehydrated 88.0% against 85.9% on WHO oral rehydration salts (p = 0.634). Stool output in the same trial fell from 8.45 to 4.69 g per kg per hour (p = 0.00053), and the authors offer the solution where the standard salts are unavailable. A third trial points at the mechanism. In 57 boys aged 5 to 12 months with diarrhoea of 14 days or more, a week of rice with cooked green banana lowered lactulose recovery, raised mannitol recovery and halved stool weight, with the two moving together at r squared 0.84. Pectin did the same in that trial, which points at fermentable substrate rather than at the fruit. Ripeness rewrites the plantain. Across three USDA Foundation records, sugars run from 2.412 g per 100 g underripe to 14.243 g ripe and 19.166 g overripe, while total carbohydrate barely moves from 33.6 to 29.2 g and vitamin C stays near 19 mg throughout. Cooking moves more than ripening does. Green fried plantain carries 309 kcal per 100 g against 121 kcal for green boiled, and its vitamin C reads 3.4 mg against 20.1 mg in the raw ripe fruit. Those are separate market samples rather than one fruit cooked four ways, and the USDA retention table holds no carbohydrate at all, so starch losses cannot be sourced. One whole raw plantain is 180 g in the US dietary survey, which works out at roughly 220 kcal and about 710 mg of potassium by arithmetic from the table rather than by measurement. A cup of green fried plantain is 118 g. The blood sugar claim is where the fruit is oversold. Across 18 studies of unripe plantain, bitter yam, okra and chitosan in type 2 diabetes, seven of them on unripe plantain, heterogeneity reached 98% and the authors say the combined effect sizes were not usable. They report a mean difference of 4.4 mg/dL with a 95% prediction interval from -6.65 to 15.50, which says the next study could land either side of zero, and half the studies carried a high risk of bias. The caution here is potassium, and the first sign of it came from the rehydration trial. Blood sodium and potassium fell in some of the 117 children given the plantain flour solution, with no count and no magnitude reported in the abstract, which is the reason a home-made solution is not a formulated rehydration salt. Potassium carries no upper limit for healthy kidneys. Where the kidneys cannot clear it, in chronic kidney disease or on certain medicines, even intakes below the adequate intake can cause hyperkalaemia, and plantain runs from 289 mg per 100 g boiled to 507 mg fried. ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers reduce urinary potassium loss, and the advice for people taking them is to have potassium monitored rather than to avoid the food. The banana family cross-reacts with latex. Among 96 patients with spina bifida tested over a mean of two years, fruit antibodies nearly always appeared after the latex ones. Only three of those patients had symptoms, and the authors see no reason for latex-negative patients to avoid tropical fruit. In 1074 pregnant women in Cameroon, naming banana or plantain and tubers as the content of the most consumed meal carried 1.37 times the odds of total hypocalcaemia (p = 0.012). That is odds from a cross-sectional survey in which the same measure flagged six women in ten, against three in a hundred for the ionised form. The review that gathered 18 green banana studies closes on the gap nobody has filled: no standard dose, variety or ripeness, and flour, pulp and a cooked fruit in a kitchen are not the same intervention.

Sources

1. plnt-r4-13 · USDA FoodData Central Foundation Foods, dataset
   Plantains, underripe, raw (FDC 2710818): 144.508 kcal, carbs 33.587 g, sugars 2.412 g, fiber 2.53 g, vitamin C 18.53 mg, potassium 406.3 mg per 100 g; Plantains, ripe, raw (FDC 2710817): 122.79 kcal, carbs 30.952 g, sugars 14.243 g, fiber 2.125 g, vitamin C 20.08 mg, potassium 395.6 mg; Plantains, overripe, raw (FDC 2710843): 117.296 kcal, carbs 29.191 g, sugars 19.166 g, fiber 1.792 g, vitamin C 19.08 mg, potassium 408.2 mg
   USDA FoodData Central, Foundation Foods, FDC 2710818, 2710817 and 2710843 · checked 2026-09-24
2. plnt-r4-15 · FNDDS and USDA FoodData Central portions, dataset
   Plantain, raw (FNDDS, FDC 2709560): 1 whole = 180 g; Plantains, green, boiled (FDC 168216): 1 cup = 137 g; Plantains, green, fried (FDC 168199): 1 cup = 118 g; Plantains, yellow, baked (FDC 169131): 1 cup = 139 g; Plantains, yellow, fried, Latino restaurant (FDC 168200): 1 cup = 169 g
   USDA FNDDS, Plantain, raw (FDC 2709560), with SR Legacy cup weights · checked 2026-09-24
3. plnt-r4-05 · randomised controlled trial in children
   Treatment with banana significantly (P < 0.05) reduced lactulose recovery, increased mannitol recovery, and decreased the LM ratio, indicating improvement of permeability...Permeability changes were associated with a 50% reduction in stool weights which correlated strongly (green banana, r2 = 0.84, pectin, r2 = 0.86) with the LM ratio.
   Dig Dis Sci, 2004 · checked 2026-09-24
4. plnt-r4-14 · USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy, dataset
   Plantains, green, fried (FDC 168199): 309 kcal, carbs 49.17 g, sugars 3.63 g, fiber 3.5 g, vitamin C 3.4 mg, potassium 482 mg per 100 g; Plantains, yellow, fried, Latino restaurant (FDC 168200): 236 kcal, carbs 40.77 g, sugars 21.76 g, potassium 507 mg; Plantains, green, boiled (FDC 168216): 121 kcal, carbs 29.15 g, sugars 2.25 g, vitamin C 9.1 mg, potassium 289 mg; Plantains, yellow, baked (FDC 169131): 155 kcal, carbs 41.37 g, sugars 21.33 g, vitamin C 16.4 mg, potassium 477 mg
   USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy, FDC 168199, 168200, 168216 and 169131 · checked 2026-09-24
5. plnt-r4-01 · systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs in children
   GB-based food consumption significantly increased the hazard of resolution of diarrhea compared to standard treatment (HR 1.96, 95% CI [1.62; 2.37], p < 0.01; I2 = 52%). The subgroup analysis showed a higher hazard of resolution of diarrhea for children with persistent diarrhea (HR 2.34, 95% CI [1.78; 3.08] compared to acute diarrhea (HR 1.74, 95% CI [1.45; 2.09]).
   Eur J Pediatr, 2024 · checked 2026-09-24
6. plnt-r4-02 · randomised controlled trial in children
   The average duration of diarrhea in the plantain-based diet group was 18 hours shorter (p < 0.005) and it also had lower cost (p < 0.005).
   J Am Coll Nutr, 2009 · checked 2026-09-24
7. plnt-r4-03 · randomised controlled trial in children
   Clinical success rates were 85% in GB group compared with 67% in controls (P < 0.05). GB significantly (P < 0.01) reduced fecal myeloperoxidase activity and increased fecal fatty acid concentrations (P < 0.01).
   Pediatr Infect Dis J, 2009 · checked 2026-09-24
8. plnt-r4-04 · randomised controlled trial in children
   Rehydration was successful in 85.9% in Group A and 88.0% in Group B (p = 0.634)...The mean stool output during rehydration was 8.45 g/kg/h (SD 9.72) in Group A and 4.69 g/kg/h (SD 4.98) in Group B (p = 0.00053).
   Acta Paediatr, 1997 · checked 2026-09-24
9. plnt-r4-06 · randomised controlled trial in children
   Decrease in blood levels of sodium and potassium occurred in some children in group B.
   Acta Paediatr, 1997 · checked 2026-09-24
10. plnt-r4-07 · fact sheet, expert body position
    In healthy people with normal kidney function, high dietary potassium intakes do not pose a health risk because the kidneys eliminate excess amounts in the urine [1]...However, in people with impaired urinary potassium excretion due to chronic kidney disease or the use of certain medications, such as angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or potassium-sparing diuretics, even dietary potassium intakes below the AI can cause hyperkalemia [11].
    NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Potassium Fact Sheet for Health Professionals · checked 2026-09-24
11. plnt-r4-08 · fact sheet, expert body position
    These medications reduce urinary potassium excretion, which can lead to hyperkalemia. Experts recommend monitoring potassium status in people taking ACE inhibitors or ARBs, especially if they have other risk factors for hyperkalemia, such as impaired kidney function [75].
    NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Potassium Fact Sheet for Health Professionals · checked 2026-09-24
12. plnt-r4-09 · longitudinal cohort in humans
    In most cases the sensitization against fruit follows the NRL sensitization. There is no need to recommend sb patients without NRL sensitization to primarily avoid tropical fruit.
    Klin Padiatr, 2011 · checked 2026-09-24
13. plnt-r4-10 · systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies
    Meta-analysis of the results found a large proportion of I2 values for all studies (98%), meaning heterogeneity. As a consequence, the combined effect sizes were not useful.
    Nutrients, 2022 · checked 2026-09-24
14. plnt-r4-11 · cross-sectional study in humans
    having banana/plantain and tubers as the content of their most consumed meal significantly increased the odds of total crude hypocalcaemia (AOR = 1.37, p-value = 0.012)
    PLoS One, 2022 · checked 2026-09-24
15. plnt-r4-12 · systematic review in humans
    It is necessary to standardize the GB dose/effect to different age groups and different health effects considering the GB variety and ripeness level.
    Nutrients, 2019 · checked 2026-09-24