Calories in Banana Chips

Those fried salted, spiced and crispy banana chips are savored more often as late afternoon or evening snacks. Isn't it? You cannot resist having one after another and no sooner, you realize that the entire packet is empty! You have consumed one full packet and now the 'post eating guilt' is devouring your mind. Banana chips, unlike the fruit, contain large amounts of calories. It's because, they are deep-fried in coconut or any other types of vegetable oils.

Under-ripe bananas are mostly used for the purpose of making the chips. The oil content of the chips depend on how deeply they have been fried and so, the calories vary accordingly. Chips that are made from ripe bananas and are fried exclusively in coconut oil, have the authentic flavor of Kerala, also have high fat and carbohydrate content.

However, the dried or baked version of the chips are known to contain comparatively less calories. We have provided you the calorie content of fried banana chips in the table below.

Data taken from USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference

• From the aforementioned table you can well understand the fact that banana chips are extremely high in calories. The protein content of the chips in comparison to that of carbohydrates and lipids (fats) is almost negligible.

• The chips, having high sugar content (35.34 g), are not at all safe for people suffering from high blood glucose. Chips that are further coated with sugar or honey, for the purpose of developing a sweet flavor have a higher calorie content than those of salted chips.

• The lipid content of banana chips is high since they are fried deeply in oil. If you break up the lipid profile, you will find out that the content of saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids in 100 grams of chips are 28.97 g and 1.95 g, respectively. 

It's extremely detrimental for people having high cholesterol owing presence of such high amounts of saturated fatty acids.

• The fiber content being so low, banana chips are never suggested to people having constipation problems. Being rich in simple carbohydrates, regular consumption of banana chips can cause sudden spike in blood glucose level.

From the data provided, you can see that, the total calories in just 100 grams of banana chips is as high as 2170 kJ, which is supposed to be the total number of calories consumed by a healthy individual in a day. However, there are some alternate ways to make banana chips with low calories.

The dried chips prepared by dehydrating, are not only delicious but are also healthy. You can coat them with minimum salt and spices for reducing the calories further. If you are utterly fond of banana chips and at the same time concerned of weight gain, then you can have them in baked form.

The flavor gets definitely compromised when you bake the slices in oven. Nevertheless, it's a healthy option.

Apart from all these, we have also provided you a small guide to the nutrients present in 100 grams of banana chips. The points below shall explain you.

• The mineral load is made up of calcium, phosphorous, zinc, iron, magnesium, sodium, potassium, manganese, copper and very meager amount of selenium. The content of potassium (536 mg/100 gm) is the highest amongst all the nutrients present.

• The vitamins present in banana chips include, vitamin C, folate, thiamin, niacin, choline, pantothenic acid, vitamin A, carotene,vitamin K and riboflavin. All these vitamins are present in banana, that count for the vitamin content of the chips.

• Some of the important amino acids present in banana chips are tryptophan, threonine,lysine phenylalanine, arginine, aspartic acid, etc. All these amino acids are essential for growth and development of cells and generation of new tissues.

Thus, you can figure out that, these utterly delicious chips are actually not so healthy for you. If you are ready to compromise with the taste, then you can have the baked variety. However, having banana chips once or twice a month, definitely doesn't pose any major health complication. Therefore, have them in moderate amounts.