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Banana and curd (kela aur dahi)

The Ashtanga Hridaya and Sushruta list banana with curd among incompatible foods. No study we found has tested the pair in people.

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What the texts say

फलं कदल्यास् तक्रेण दध्ना ताल-फलेन वा
phalaṃ kadalyās takreṇa dadhnā tāla-phalena vā
Banana fruit with buttermilk, with curd, or with palmyra fruit.[1]

The line comes from the Ashtanga Hridaya's list of incompatible foods (viruddha ahara). It names the pairs and gives no reason for this one. Sushruta has the same pairing in Sutra 20.13, where banana is listed with palmyra fruit, milk, curd or buttermilk. The rule is about banana. It is not a ban on all fruit with curd: Charaka even names one fruit, amla, as something to eat curd with.[1][2][3]

The modern view

The only related study we found was a lab experiment, not a study in people. Researchers added green banana pulp at 3%, 6% or 9% to a fermented milk carrying a probiotic bacterium, then exposed it to acid and to bile salts. At 3% the banana helped the bacteria survive; at 9% fewer survived. A lab test of probiotic survival cannot tell us whether ripe banana with ordinary dahi does any harm.[4]

Classical text only

Questions people ask

Do the texts rule out curd with all fruit?

Not in the passages we opened. They name particular fruits, such as banana here, and Charaka lists amla as an accompaniment for curd.[1][3]

Does it matter whether the banana is ripe or green?

The verses do not say. The one lab study we found used green banana pulp, which is another reason it does not answer the question about everyday ripe banana.[1][4]

Related

Food

Milk and banana

Sushruta lists banana with milk as an unwholesome combination. No study we found has tested the pair.

Food

Curd and amla

Charaka names amla, a fruit, as one of the things curd should be eaten with. No study we found has tested the rule.

Food

Milk and curd together

Sushruta says not to eat curd with milk, and calls such pairs poison-like. No study we found has tested the rule.

Food

Fruit after meals

Sushruta puts fruit such as pomegranate at the start of a meal and praises amla at any point. No study we found tests this meal order.

Sources

  1. Ashtanga Hridaya, Sutra Sthana 7.35, GRETIL e-text.
  2. Sushruta Samhita, Sutra Sthana 20.13, NIIMH e-text.
  3. Charaka Samhita, Sutra Sthana 7.61 (Naveganadharaniya Adhyaya).
  4. de Oliveira Vogado C, Dos Santos Leandro E, de Alencar ER, Ginani VC, Zandonadi RP. Survival of Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei LBC 81 in fermented milk enriched with green banana pulp under acid stress and in the presence of bile salts. Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins. 2020;12:320-324. PMID 30850942.

Awaiting review by The Good Vaidya Medical Board. Prepared from the sources below and checked against each one.

Published 4 November 2026 · Last updated 4 November 2026

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