Bananadine is a fictional psychoactive substance which is allegedly extracted from banana peels. A recipe for its extraction from banana peel was originally published as a hoax in the Berkeley Barb in March 1967.^[1] FicTioNaL is a Gaming Legend. ... A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical that alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness, or behaviour. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. ... The Berkeley Barb was an underground newspaper which was published in Berkeley, California, in the 1960s and 1970s. ...

A banana peel.

It became more widely known when William Powell, believing it to be true, reproduced the method in The Anarchist Cookbook in 1970 under the name "Musa Sapientum Bananadine" (referring to the banana's binomial nomenclature). Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (3264 × 2448 pixel, file size: 4. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (3264 × 2448 pixel, file size: 4. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The Anarchist Cookbook is an instructional book written by William Powell. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Researchers at New York University have found that banana peel contains no intoxicating chemicals, and that smoking it produces only a placebo effect. Over the years, bananadine has become a popular urban legend. New York University (NYU) is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational research university in New York City. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Placebo. ... An urban legend or urban myth is similar to a modern folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. ...

Chemicals in Bananas

Banana peels, however, do contain the nonpsychoactive neurotransmitters tyramine and dopamine in significant amounts that if ingested are enough to affect people taking MAOIs. [1] These chemicals are present in many foods at higher concentrations, and users of MAOIs are counseled to avoid them. The most characteristic effect of the interaction is a massive increase in blood pressure, leading to a hypertensive crisis, and possibly arrhythmia and death.^[2] Bananas contain tryptophan which, when ingested, increases levels of serotonin in the body. This can lead to various mood-altering effects (Leathwood and Pollet, 1982) including a reduction in depression (Sainio et al., 1996). As well, Xiao et al. (1998) found that eating just two bananas a day for three days increased levels of serotonin in the blood by 16%. However, there is no mention in the literature of tryptophan having any hallucinogenic effects; it has, in fact, been used to reduce hallucinations in patients with mental disorders (Sainio et al., 1996). It is also debatable whether smoking tryptophan would be successful it does make you halucinate when you do inhale the smoke but you have to smoke alot of it to take affect. In organic chemistry tyramine (4-hydroxy-phenethylamine, para-tyramine, p-tyramine) is a monoamine compound derived from the amino acid tyrosine. ... For other uses, see Dopamine (disambiguation). ... MAOI redirects here. ... Tryptophan is an essential amino acid involved in human nutrition. ... Serotonin (pronounced ) (5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT) is a monoamine neurotransmitter synthesized in serotonergic neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) and enterochromaffin cells in the gastrointestinal tract of animals including humans. ...

Bananadine in Popular Culture

Donovan's hit single "Mellow Yellow" was released the same month as the Berkeley Barb hoax, and in the popular culture of the era, the song was assumed to be about smoking banana peels. Shortly after the "Berkeley Barb" hoax and the song, the myth was featured in the New York Times ^[3]. For years it was (wrongly) assumed that the song "Mellow Yellow" was the source for this myth. In an October 2005 interview on the National Public Radio program "Fresh Air", Donovan said that it was actually the folk singer Country Joe McDonald who had started the rumor in San Francisco, one week before the release of Donovan's song. Mr. McDonald has told a similar story, including the side effect of a shortage of bananas in all of Berkeley following the concert that started the rumor, as all available bananas were bought by concert-goers for experimentation (2003, Palms Playhouse, Winters, CA). The myth was brought to attention once more in the late 1980s, when the satiric punk group The Dead Milkmen released a song concerning the effects of smoking banana peels. Even the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigated. For other uses, see Donovan (disambiguation). ... Mellow Yellow is the fourth album from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. ... NPR redirects here. ... For the Scottish student radio station, see Fresh Air (Edinburgh). ... Country Joe McDonald Country Joe McDonald (born Joseph McDonald, on January 1, 1942 in El Monte, California) was the leader and lead singer of the 1960s rock & roll group Country Joe and the Fish. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Winters is a city in Yolo County, California. ... The 1980s refers to the years from 1980 to 1989. ... The Dead Milkmen was a satirical punk rock/pop band that formed in 1983 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... “FDA” redirects here. ...

In the inner sleeve of Experience, the first full-length album by British band The Prodigy, Leeroy Thornhill is quoted saying "Respect to everyone I've met, you're welcome round to smoke some Banana skins anytime". Experience is an album by rave act The Prodigy. ... The Prodigy (or just Prodigy)[1] are an English band. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

The Ray Stevens song "Thirty-Five Year Old Hippie Class Reunion" alludes to this hoax. There is a recurring exchange: "What happened to it?" "We smoked it..." about increasingly improbable things, until at the end of the song the two characters enthusiastically consider smoking the entire contents of a pet store. The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ...

The Frank Zappa song "Blue Light" from "Tinseltown Rebellion" alludes to this hoax, too. "That was back in the days when you used to Smoke a banana You would scrape the stuff off the middle You would bake it You would smoke it You even thought you was getting ripped from it" Frank Vincent Zappa[1] (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, musician, and film director. ...

Slade also allude to this myth in a more tongue-in-cheek way in "Thanks For The Memory" (from the album of the same name, released 1975) with the line "They said bananas could get you high". This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

References

• Leathwood, P.D. and Pollet, P. (1982) "Diet-induced mood changes in normal populations" J. Psychiat. Res. 17(2):147-154

• Sainio, E.L., Pulkki, K. and Young, S.N. (1996) "L-Tryptophan: Biochemical, nutritional and pharmacological aspects" Amino Acids 10:21-47
• Xiao, R., Beck, O. and Hjemdahl, P. (1998) "On the accurate measurement of serotonin in whole blood" Scand. J. Clin. Lab. Invest. 58: 505-510

External links

• Sniggle.net Article featuring a fake Bananadine recipe
• Straight Dope Article detailing the history of the Bananadine hoax