Eating A Single Banana Can Give You 25% Of The Daily Value For This Vitamin

There's a lot to obsess about when it comes to sweet, golden bananas. Even in the face of rampant inflation at the grocery store, bananas aren't expensive. They're also versatile and complementary players in smoothies, shakes, and desserts of all sorts, and bananas are even (very slightly) radioactive! On top of just being super cool — we've never seen a toddler use an apple or an orange as a makeshift cell phone, and who doesn't love a DIY banana split? — bananas are actually really good for you. They deliver mad potassium (even though there are a few other fruits that have more of it), vitamin C, and fiber. There's another nutritional upside to bananas that you might not have realized, however, and that's vitamin B6. One medium banana packs in 0.433 milligrams of the stuff, which doesn't seem like a lot until you realize that adults only need between 1.3 and 1.7 milligrams daily for healthy functioning.

To put this in perspective, ½ a cup of seedless raisins only contains 0.1 milligrams of vitamin B6. A cup of low-fat cottage cheese doubles that, but you still aren't at the halfway mark for what you can get from a banana. To even get to 0.4 milligrams of B6, you'd have to cook and consume a full cup of boiled potatoes, three ounces of roasted turkey meat, or a whole cup of marinara sauce. Comparatively, bananas are cheap, portable, and require no cooking or refrigeration. They taste great at any time of day and are liked by most folks, from small kiddos all the way to great-grandparents. 

It can seem like there are an awful lot of macro- and micronutrients to keep up with in your diet, making eating "right" feel overwhelming. But, if you're wondering why you need vitamin B6 in the first place, know that it's well worth adding this critical vitamin to your diet. Vitamin B6 is also known as pyridoxine. It's water-soluble, which means that water carries it throughout your body to your tissues, but it's not stored in your body — you need to consume it daily to stay healthy. Your body also can't produce it on its own.

First of all, your sunny disposition might depend in part on your B6 consumption. This vitamin plays a role in the genesis of neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, which can keep you feeling upbeat. Furthermore, adequate B6 can combat certain amino acids that increase depressive feelings. Along those same lines, people experiencing PMS may benefit from the mood-boosting benefits of B6.

But this isn't just a "feel-good" vitamin. Folks with a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease may experience less brain wasting by consuming higher amounts of vitamin B6, although this is an area of developing scientific study. It's also been associated with a lower risk of anemia, decreased issues with heart disease, and even lessened cancer risk. Your eyes can also benefit from vitamin B6, with adequate consumers experiencing less chance of age-related macular degeneration. All in all, B6 is an underrated player in your daily diet. So eat that banana and feel good about it, because, tasty as it is, you are also doing great things for your health.