By IANS,
Lucknow : Diabetics no longer need to worry about rise in their sugar levels after enjoying a banana feast.
Scientists at the Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology (CSAUAT), Kanpur claimed to have developed a new variety of banana with less sugar content for diabetics.
“In the new variety, we have successfully controlled the conversion process of starch into glucose, which is a natural phenomenon in fruits containing starch (carbohydrate),” senior agro-scientist at CSAUAT G.S. Gaur told IANS by telephone.
In the newly developed banana variety, the conversion takes at such a slow pace that there is no considerable rise in glucose level of diabetics eating these bananas, he explained.
The sugar content apart, all vital ingredients of normal bananas are intact in the new variety, said the scientist.
“Like its counterparts, the newly developed banana variety is rich in vitamin-B and C, phosphorus, calcium and iron,” said Gaur.
Asked about the concentration of sugar content in the new banana variety, he said: “As the banana variety is still in an experimental stage, it would not be feasible to say anything on this.”
It would take another six months for the variety to be released for commercial use, he said.
However, unlike 100 gram of ordinary banana, which normally has 650 calories, the same quantity of the new banana variety contains considerably lower calories.