Can Bananas Lower Your Risk of Getting Prostate Cancer?

No credible research has specifically found that eating bananas lowers your risk of prostate cancer, but they can still be a good food to include in your diet to support your overall health.
Bananas have many potential benefits, such as:

• supporting your heart health with nutrients like potassium
• helping support your immunity with vitamin C
• stabilizing your blood sugar levels and aiding with weight loss due to their fiber content
Research from 2022Trusted Source suggests that plant-based dietary patterns are associated with lower rates of prostate cancer and less aggressive forms of prostate cancer.
Read on to learn more about the link between bananas and prostate cancer.
Do bananas have any benefits for preventing prostate cancer?
Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables can potentially help you maintain your overall health and prevent disease. There are many reasons to include bananas in your diet, but no studies have found a link between banana consumption and lower prostate cancer risk.
In a 2017 studyTrusted Source, researchers examined data from 142,239 men from eight European countries and found that higher fruit intake was associated with a small reduction in prostate cancer risk.
But the researchers noted in their conclusion that it’s unclear whether eating more fruit decreased the risk of prostate cancer or whether other variables caused the link.
In the study, the researchers divided fruit into the following subtypes:
• citrus fruits
• apples and pears
• bananas

Of these three types, only citrus was associated with a significant trend toward lower prostate cancer rates.
Do bananas have any benefits for treating prostate cancer?

There’s no conclusive evidence that consuming bananas has a direct benefit for prostate cancer treatment.
That said, bananas contain many micronutrients that can help support your overall health while you’re undergoing treatments such as radiation therapy or hormone therapy.
One medium-sized banana contains about 2 gramsTrusted Source of fiber as well as more than 5% of your daily value (DV) of each of the following:

• vitamin C (12% DV)
• copper (11% DV)
• potassium (10% DV)
• magnesium (8% DV)
• riboflavin (7% DV)
• folate (6% DV)
• niacin (5% DV)

Learn more about prostate cancer treatment.

Do bananas have any benefits for managing prostate cancer symptoms?
Prostate cancer can cause many symptoms, including:
• frequent or painful urination
• trouble emptying your bladder completely
• painful ejaculation
• pain during urination
• weak urine stream

Learn more about prostate cancer symptoms.

Yet there’s no evidence that consuming bananas can help manage these symptoms.
Two small studies have found some theoretical evidence that banana products may reduce symptoms caused by a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia, also known as an enlarged prostate. Yet these are very early studies, and much more research is needed before drawing conclusions.