Banannas, what chemical is in them?

[Necridous]

I know that you can get messed up by banannas, but I was wondering what is the chemical that actually triggers the reaction? I'm not thinking about trying this just curious.

 

[DevXavier]

Bananas getting you high is an urban myth. They contain small amounts of L-tryptofan, but so low, you'd need to eat about 2 kgs of them to feel any effect.

People report getting high when smoking the innerpeelings of the banana, but it's just because of the thick smoke their head feels light and cloudy.

 

[DevXavier]

http://www.erowid.org/ask/ask.php?ID=1620

 

[Entheonaut]

I've heard about this "myth" that you can get high from smoking the inside of the banana skin.

One time when I was on vacation on Mallorca, me and Soulcatcher didn't have a thing to get high on, so we went out to play mythbusters.
Bought a kilo of banana's, peeled out the inside of the skin. Dried it in the sun, built a joint out of them, smoked it... but nothing happend.

If you ask me, there is no psychoactive substance in banana's.

 

[Necridous]

yeah it seemed to me that many more people would be abusing this easy to find drug if it really produced a distinct effect. I was going to file this away in the "things to use once settled down with kids" file in my brain but it seems that those who have tried it are not reporting anything worthwhile

 

[Guest]

I once dried the small threads on the inside of the peel and smoked them when I was 14

No effect, it did taste nice though :thumbsup:

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

One shouldn't smoke the banananas, but eat them. However, you need an MAO-inhibitor to make the banandine orally active. When you combine the two, it's called Bananahuasca. I don't recommend beginners to try Bananahuasca without the guidance of an expert bananahuascero.

 

[JustinNed]

Quoted from Dev's post referring to Erowid's:

Nope, though there are persistent reports of people who say you can get high from smoking banana peels (or bananas, or extracted bananas), this is a myth has been around since the late 1960s. There are no psychoactive components in banana peels, despite scientific names such as "banandine" being created to perpetuate the myth. Smoking just about anything is likely to make one feel light-headed, but this is not the same as getting high.

There are a couple of possible sources of this rumor. One suggested source was a prank letter submitted to and published in the Berkeley Barb in March 1967. Donovan's folk classic Mellow Yellow is also cited as an early version of the story. The myth was repeated in the Anarchist Cookbook and has since spread on the web. Regardless of how many places repeat the myth, it is not true.

 

[Dimebag]

I once dried the small threads on the inside of the peel and smoked them when I was 14

No effect, it did taste nice though

lol I ve done the same

One shouldn't smoke the banananas, but eat them. However, you need an MAO-inhibitor to make the banandine orally active. When you combine the two, it's called Bananahuasca. I don't recommend beginners to try Bananahuasca without the guidance of an expert bananahuascero.

 

[afer]

I agree that it's funny indeed but some people could take your advice seriously and make the bananahuasca, which may be fatal, as bananas are absolutely contraindicated to use with MAOI

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

Bananas will not be fatal. They are not listed as "very dangerous", but as "can cause headaches or sickness."


Below is a list of substances (source), that you should NOT take 12 hours before and 12 hours after taking a MAO-inhibitor.

Very dangerous:
# antidepressants containing Selective Serotonine Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI's) such as the herb Kanna (Sceletium tortuosum) and pills such as paroxetine (Seroxat), fluoxetine (Prozac), citalopram (Cipramil), fluvoxamine (Fevarin) and sertraline (Zoloft)
# sleeping-pills
# anaesthetics
# migraine medicines
# allergy medicines
# over the counter cold medicines
# cocaine
# amphetamines (speed)
# MDMA (XTC)
# mescaline cacti (peyote and san pedro)
# alcohol
# ephedra/ephedrine
# pseudoephedrine
# macromerine
# phentermine.

Can cause headaches or sickness:
# cultured dairy products (buttermilk, yogurt, and sour cream)
# all aged/mature cheese (exception: cottage cheese, cream cheese)
# dry and fermented sausage (bologna, salami, pepperoni, corned beef, and liver)
# all meat, fish and eggs which are not fresh
# pickled herring and salted dried fish
# meat extracts
# yeast extracts/brewer's yeast (Marmite)
# sauerkraut
# fruits (bananas, avocados, canned figs, raisins, red plums, pine-apple, raspberries)
# nuts (peanuts)
# broad beans and pods (lima, fava beans, lentils, snow peas, and soy beans)
# soyasauce
# LSA (morning glory and baby hawaiian woodrose seeds)
# MDA related herbs (nutmeg, sweet flag)
# chocolate
# caffeine (coffee, tea, cola, guarana, energy drinks)
# ginseng
# St Johns wort
# nasal sprays (Vicks Sinex, Prevalin of Otrivin)
# other MAO inhibitors.

 

[tryptonaut]

A very early quote of the banana-thing on American tv (or maybe even the start of the myth????)

Very nice music as well - after White Rabbit there's another banana-joke followed by one of the best songs ever written, Somebody to Love.