● Food Intelligence · Fruit
Across 12,753 single-item logs of bananas from 6,163 Signos members, the average glucose peak was +36.4 mg/dL — but the range is wide: a light-carb meal with banana averages +32.6 mg/dL, while a very heavy carb load pushes that to +46.0 mg/dL. Ripeness and pairings matter too: a ripe banana eaten alone anchors at +36 mg/dL (cohort mean), while a firm/green banana pulls that down to +29 mg/dL and pairing with almond butter trims another −8 mg/dL.
Tap any ingredient below to swap it for a glucose-friendlier alternative. Your Signos Glucose Score, predicted curve, and nutrition update in real-time. Every swap is data-backed by real CGM response measurements.
Yes — for more than half of members, with an average peak of +36.4 mg/dL across 12,753 single-item banana logs. Across our cohort of 12,753 single-item banana logs from 6,163 unique members, the mean glucose peak was +36.4 mg/dL — putting bananas in a moderate-to-high response tier, above apple (+31.5 mg/dL) and near popcorn (+37.2 mg/dL) in our food rankings. Three levers drive most of the variance: ripeness (firm/green banana averages +29 mg/dL vs. +36 for ripe — a 7 mg/dL gap), fat pairings (almond butter drops the peak from 36.8 to 28.8 mg/dL, n=2,291), and total meal carb load (the escalation from light to very-heavy carb meals spans 41%). The IQR is 28 mg/dL (p25: +21, p75: +49), confirming that individual response matters as much as the food itself.
Some members spike +28.8 mg/dL. Others spike +46. The only way to know how you'll spike is to measure with a Signos CGM.
Bananas produce a mean peak of +36.4 mg/dL across 12,753 single-item banana logs — moderate-to-high by CGM standards, with a spread wide enough that individual response varies far more than the average implies. The IQR spans 28 mg/dL (p25: +21, p75: +49) and 56.2% of logs exceeded +30 mg/dL. Three levers explain most of that range. First, ripeness: as a banana ripens, resistant starch converts to free glucose and fructose — firm/green bananas average +29 mg/dL, while ripe bananas anchor at +36 mg/dL. Second, fat and protein pairings: almond butter (−8 mg/dL, n=2,291), avocado (−7 mg/dL, n=1,840), and whey protein (−9 mg/dL, n=5,177) each measurably reduce the peak. Third, total meal carb load: the escalation from light-carb (32.6 mg/dL) to very-heavy-carb (46.0 mg/dL) meals spans 41%. These effects are observational from matched-pair Welch's t-tests, not controlled trials.
This page is grounded in three nested cuts of the Signos production PPGR cohort. The page-primary number — cited everywhere above the swap calculator — comes from the single-item cohort: 12,753 logs where a banana was eaten alone, from 6,163 unique members, with a mean peak of +36.4 mg/dL, a median of 34 mg/dL, and an IQR of p25 +21 to p75 +49 mg/dL. The tightened single-item filter applies a carbs ≤ 50g cap and excludes multi-item joiner logs to isolate the banana's own contribution. The broader cohort (57,335 logged meals containing banana in any form, ~13,134 members, mean +35.6 mg/dL) describes what real-world banana meals look like with all their pairings included; we cite it only here in methodology. The swap calculator's matched-pair table draws on a slightly different filter and powers the per-option Ns shown in the modifier slots. Data was filtered to meals with a measured glucose rise between 0 and 100 mg/dL (ppgr_case='regular') to exclude outliers and sensor artifacts. Statistical comparisons between modifier groups use Welch's t-test on matched pairs; all effects reported at p<0.05 minimum, with the dominant modifiers reaching p<0.001. A minimum of 100 matched meals was required for any food pairing to appear in the recipe builder.