Do you know bananas can lift your spirits? bananas contain tryptophan which, when ingested, increases levels of serotonin in the body (the same effect as Prozac). This can lead to various mood-altering effects (Leathwood and Pollet, 1982) including a reduction in depression (Sainio et al., 1996). As well, Xiao et al. (1998) found that eating just two bananas a day for three days increased levels of serotonin in the blood by 16%. |