Introduction:

The banana is a fruit with a short shelf life due to its accelerated maturity, which generates waste. Green Banana Flour (GBF) emerges as an alternative product to promote sustainability. It is considered a functional ingredient due to its high content of resistant starch, which has positive effects on gut microbiota, satiety, body weight, and both glucose and lipid metabolism.

Objective:

Determine the benefits and health effects of GBF and its biofunctional components.

Materials and methods:

The search for original articles (published between January 2019 and February 2024) was performed on Science Direct, PubMed, and ProQuest Central platforms. Systematic reviews, duplicates, theses, books, and physicochemical investigations were excluded.

Results:

The in vivo trials reviewed demonstrated that GBF or its components significantly reduced uremic toxins in patients on peritoneal dialysis, improved glycemic control and variability in patients with type 2 diabetes, contributed to the treatment of chronic constipation, showed beneficial metabolic effects in obese mice, protected against hyperglycemia-induced visceral damage in diabetic rats, and identified banana- derived metabolites in urine as biomarkers of intake with implications for metabolic and mental health.

Conclusions:

The studies analyzed suggest that green banana and its derivatives, due to components such as resistant starch and phenolic compounds, continue to be a valuable element with potential to treat diseases, particularly gastric and metabolic disorders.