I have been reading quite a bit lately on green banana products as a natural ulcer medication, immune boost and also just as a general well being feed. It seems that back in the day a lot of race horse trainers used to feed racehorses green bananas to help with calmness, hoof and coat health and general wellbeing. There are a few products on the market and I am keen to try on our young horses that we break in as it is a stressful time for them. Would also like to use it on my horse that has suffered ulcers in the past, who I maintain on a few ulcer products now containing marine calcium and lecithin. Wondering if anyone has tried a green banana product, why and do you think it helps?
I have gotten very good results with chia seeds
https://uschia.com/pages/us-chia-benefits-for-horses
that’s just a random link, but if you google chia seeds equine you will get a bunch of good sources
Green banana contains some chemicals known via some studies to help increase mucosal lining. I didn’t find anything in horses, and while I am always leery of extrapolating from other mammals to humans, this type of thing is frequently the same in all mammals, at least single-stomach mammals. It’s then usually a matter of degree. Just google “green banana horse ulcer” and read up
Green Banana flour.
One cup (about 100 grams) of green banana flour contains about: (12)
- 346 calories
- 88.3 grams carbohydrates
- 3.9 grams protein
- 1.8 grams fat
- 9.9 grams fiber
- 1,491 milligrams [B]potassium[/B] (43 percent DV)
- 0.6 milligram [B]manganese[/B] (29 percent DV)
- 108 milligrams magnesium (27 percent DV)
- 0.4 milligram vitamin B6 (22 percent DV)
- 0.4 milligram copper (20 percent DV)
- 0.2 milligram riboflavin (14 percent DV)
- 2.8 milligrams niacin (14 percent DV)
- 7 milligrams vitamin C (12 percent DV)
- 0.2 milligram thiamine (12 percent DV)
- 74 milligrams phosphorus (7 percent DV)
- 1.2 milligrams iron (6 percent DV)
- 3.9 micrograms selenium (6 percent DV)
- 248 international units vitamin A (5 percent DV)
There is a company in Australia pushing green banana feed supplements who seem to be the only people conducting research.
https://www.bananafeedsaustralia.com/faq
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there’s more to green banana powder than those nutrients though 
There are some compounds in it that are the same as in sucralfate, which is part why what helps increase mucosal lining production.
Some (rat) research for anyone curious about this stuff: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3249781/
And one product available: https://www.naturalevolutionfoods.com.au/order/equine/natural-evolution-green-banana-equineanimal-mix/
It’s more of an AUS/NZ thing, right? Don’t think I’ve seen this available in the US.
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Another interesting study; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6627159/ However, no studies with horses.
I wonder if it would do anything for fecal water syndrome. The G.U.T. has stopped working as well again and I need to switch it up again.
