It has been found that unripe bananas are more cancer-protective than ripe ones.

Professor John Burn, head of human genetics at Newcastle University, revealed bananas lose their crystalline starch when they ripen, and therefore lose those qualities that help prevent cancer.

Burn said: 'I do eat a slightly green banana every morning for breakfast.' However, green bananas and aspirin could play a part in reducing hereditary bowel cancer in high risk patients. Burn is conducting trials to prove this theory.

He added: 'The diagnosis of cancer is a terrible burden, but the discovery that a young person has developed cancer due to an inherited faulty gene has an even greater impact.'

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