Is Banana Acidic or Alkaline?
Banana (ripe) is strongly alkaline: Negative PRAL: alkalizing after digestion. Alkaline, and strongly so: a ripe banana has a PRAL of −6.4 per 100 g. It is one of the most alkaline fruits you can buy at the supermarket.
Classification
The banana is the textbook example of potassium: lots of it, hardly any protein, hardly any phosphorus. That's how you get −6.4 at 79 kcal per 100 g. A banana largely offsets a serving of cheese, an egg or a slice of wholemeal bread, and that's exactly how it makes the most sense at breakfast. The riper it is, the sweeter it tastes, but that changes the PRAL very little.
In the Fruit category, banana (ripe) ranks #21 of 80, sorted from alkaline to acid-forming. More alkaline options include Apricot (−7.2), Jackfruit (−7.7), Date (−7.8). More acid-forming are Black currant (−5.5), Cantaloupe (−5.4), Red currant (−5.3).
Acidic or alkaline: PRAL, not pH
On this site, acidic and alkaline refer to the PRAL (potential renal acid load). It estimates what a food leaves behind once it has been digested: a positive value is acid-forming, a negative value is alkalizing. That is different from the pH of the food itself: a lemon tastes sour, yet its PRAL is −4.0, so it is alkalizing. Your diet does not change your blood pH. It does change how much acid your kidneys have to deal with.
Goes well with
Frequently Asked Questions
Is banana acidic?
It depends on what you mean by acidic. The pH describes the food itself, for example how sour it tastes. The PRAL describes what it leaves behind after digestion: Banana (ripe) has a PRAL of −6.4 per 100 g, so it counts as strongly alkaline in your daily acid-base balance.
How much banana do I need for a noticeable effect?
One medium banana (120 g) of banana adds −7.6 to your daily balance. For comparison: an egg is around +5.4, a slice of cheese around +6. So one serving of banana roughly offsets one of them.
Why is banana alkaline even though it tastes sour?
The PRAL depends on the minerals left over after digestion, not on taste or pH. Banana provides more potassium, magnesium and calcium than phosphorus and protein, so the balance is negative (−6.4).
Banana logged, balance checked.
Basentracker adds up every meal automatically and shows whether your day is in the alkaline range. The same values as on this page, all 977 foods, photo scan, recipes.
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Compare all Fruit: Fruit table. Common questions are answered in Acidic or Alkaline?, and the PRAL calculator adds up a whole meal.
Source: Basentracker food database (PRAL according to Remer & Manz, calculated from protein, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and calcium per 100 g). This information does not replace medical advice.