A summer-long national marketing campaign that challenges summer fitness fans and recreational enthusiasts to consider the banana as one of nature’s best energy sources has its roots in a new study equating America’s best-selling fruit with the most popular sports drinks. Found that bananas provide the same energy bost, a much bigger nutrition bang and no artificial ingredients compared to the leading sports drinks – at about one-third the price.
The study also reinforced those direct benefits bananas provide that sports drinks can’t: improved blood antioxidant capacity and the vitamins, minerals and fiber needed by athletes to maintain their performance. The first research to directly compare bananas to sports drinks as an energy source, the study is also the first to show that bananas perform as favorably on a metabolic level.