Can you eat a banana in cough and cold?

The problem starts when the histamine secretion rate goes higher than the rate of breakdown. As a result, you continue to experience allergic symptoms – hypersecretion of mucous/ itching/ redness/ swelling/ tears, etc.  Sometimes it may happen due to a deficiency of DAO. It is important to shut down the histamine secretion when the crisis is over. This is the time when your body tries hard to deal with excess histamine. An antihistamine diet helps to calm this situation. Not only Banana for cough, foods which are high in histamine – fermented foods (pickle, curd, sauerkraut, etc), wine, avocado, eggplant, raisin, cashew, almond, citrus fruits, tomato, chocolate, etc – are to be avoided to bring down the histamine level and control the unwanted allergic symptoms.

Banana is a nutritious fruit. If you are suffering from a common cold and cough or fever for 2-3 days, you can take a ripe banana 3-4 times a week. Even though bananas are high in histamine content, your body is well equipped to balance them. But if you are struggling with allergic symptoms like excess secretion of mucous and tears, itching, rashes, etc for more than 2 weeks, avoid having high-histamine foods like bananas for better histamine balance. Banana is loaded with carbohydrates, a good source of soluble dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Besides this, bananas are soft and easy to swallow. Consuming a ripe banana a day is good for gut health and controlling stress.

Banana is a healthy and nutritious snack option. Therefore instead of snacking on chips, instant noodles, or sweets, it is better to have a banana at night.  Most people can easily digest bananas even at night. Many find having warm milk and ripe bananas helpful to relieve constipation the next morning. However, if you are suffering from a cold and cough for more than 2 weeks, avoid having a banana even in the daytime.

Banana is a high histamine-containing food. Histamine is responsible for producing all the allergic symptoms – hypersecretion of mucous and tears, itching, redness, swelling, etc. However, there is no substantial scientific data to show that eating bananas can lead to the common cold. One can enjoy bananas in moderation even during a common cold. Our body is capable enough to balance the food histamine. If the cold and cough are sustained for more than 14 days, then avoid bananas to reduce the histamine load.