Consumer preference for gluten-free meals will push the green banana flour industry to a $1.026 billion value by 2030. This is according to Future Market Insights research.

Green banana flour comes from immature Musa bananas such as Cavendish, which grow from India to Africa and Latin America.

The current high demand for this flour owes to an increasing consumer choice for natural products. This preference accounted for 95% of the demand for green banana flour in 2021.

World regions that will drive demand in the next 6 years include Europe, Asia and North America.

In Europe, the UK alone experienced a growth in green banana flour use of 6% in 2021. 

For North America, the United States leads in the use of this flour. Projections for 2021 showed that 85% of all North American sales of green banana flour happened in the U.S.

Healthy Alternative

U.S.’ consumers prefer green banana flour because it offers a healthy alternative to popular baked goods. The product makes cupcakes, donuts, waffles and pasta dough of the same fluffy quality as wheat dough.

Americans also use it to thicken stews and soups, since it is less glutenous than wheat flour.

One of the potent health factors that are pushing demand is the flour’s resistant starch quality and fibers. Since it is a product of drying non-ripe bananas before starch converts to sugar, the flour contains mainly nutritious starch. 

The prebiotic fibers in green banana flour also promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut. A National Library of Medicine (NLM) report details how the resistant starch helps restore good bacteria after infection.

Similar to ginseng extracts, nutrients in green banana flour also cleanse the gut from the side effects of antibiotics  These side effects include diarrhoea, which may affect people who treat bacterial infections with prescribed drugs.

This discovery comes at a critical time when the use of antibiotics is on the rise. According to NLM, the use of antibiotics may rise by 200% by 2030 from a 2015 baseline.

Ready-made Healthy Food propels Growth

Other than health, another reason for the growth in green banana flour is consumers’ readiness to spend more on ready-made healthy meals. 

For instance, global consumers with gluten allergies increasingly buy only gluten-free flour foods. Additionally, those battling weight occasionally opt for ready meals that feature the 100-calorie green banana flour. 

Therefore, the billion-dollar forecast for the global green banana flour market banks on the product’s nutritional value.