How there’s as much alcohol in 10 bananas as ONE pint
Revealed: Six Foods and Drinks You Didn’t Know Contain ALCOHOL
- Bread can contain 1.28 percent alcohol and ripe banana can contain 0.4 percent
- This hidden alcohol is not labeled and is found in many fermented foods
You may be shocked to discover that there is alcohol lurking in foods we consider booze-free.
From bread and fruit juice to yogurt and soy sauce, some foods can contain even more than some low-alcohol beers.
In fact, just one banana can contain about 0.2 percent alcohol by volume, according to Abbeycare, a rehab center. Ripe bananas may have double that.
Surprisingly, American-style hamburger buns are one of the worst offenders, with an alcohol content of up to 1.28 percent.
According to a 2016 German study published in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology, a ripe banana with spots contains as much as 0.4 percent alcohol. The study also found that yogurt had 0.02 percent alcohol, a hamburger bun 1.28 percent, apple juice 0.026 percent, orange juice 0.073 percent, and soy sauce 2 percent alcohol.
Wheat and rye bread contains less at 0.29 percent ABV. This is according to a 2016 study published in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology.
Registered dietitian Dr Duane Mellor, from Aston University in Birmingham, said: ‘During the leavening process, bread contains yeast, which ferments the carbohydrates and produces alcohol.’
All fermented foods are likely to contain trace amounts of alcohol, according to Dr. Mellor.
Similarly, fruit juice may contain hidden ethanol.
The 2016 study also showed that grape juice contains 0.086 percent ABV, orange juice 0.073 percent, and apple juice 0.026 percent.
And a cherry yogurt has 0.02 percent alcohol.
A ripe banana with spots can contain more alcohol at about 0.4 percent ABV
Like beer, bread contains yeast, water and grains, but bread does not contain hops. The yeast ferments the carbohydrates and produces alcohol, but most of the alcohol evaporates during the cooking process
Any item with an alcohol content of less than 0.5 per cent is considered ‘non-alcoholic’ in the UK, while 1.2 per cent is categorized as ‘low alcohol content’.
Therefore, these food and beverage outlets are alcohol-free or low-alcohol in themselves.
Fermentation — when bacteria or yeast break down carbohydrates into sugars that turn into an acid or alcohol — is how alcohol gets into these items.
For example, a banana ferments when yeast in the air reacts with the sugar content of the fruit, causing it to ferment into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
And fruit juices are prone to fermentation for the same reason. When juice is left in a warm environment, yeast in the air converts the sugars in the juice into alcohol.
Meanwhile, soy sauce is fermented as part of the production process.
Soybeans, wheat, salt and water are combined and fermented, breaking down wheat starch into sugars and becoming alcohol.
While much of this alcohol evaporates during production, the product still contains 1.5 to 2 percent alcohol, which adds to the flavor.