Peanut Butter: a healthy food

In this Article (Index)

• Peanuts
• Peanut Butter
• What is Peanut Butter?
• Nutritional Value of Peanut Butter
• Peanut Butter's Health Benefits
• Mortality and Nuts
• Lower Risk of Type-2 Diabetes
• Heart Disease and Peanut Butter
• Weight Gain and Nuts
• Homemade Natural Peanut Butter Recipe
• Peanut Butter Cons and Risks
• Allergy risk
• Closing Comments

Peanuts

Peanuts are the most consumed nuts in the World, the global total in 2020 was over 54 million metric tons (119 billion lbs), equivalent to 14.9 lb (6.75 kg) per capita. This is ten times more than the worldwide consumption of tree nuts.

Despite their name, peanuts are a legume, and like beans, peas, and lentils, they grow in pods.

The plant's scientific name is Arachis hypogaea, an annual plant that grows to a height of 12 to 20 inches (30-50 cm). It is native to South America; it is an annual herbaceous plant growing 30 to 50 cm (12 to 20 in) tall. The plant was domesticated over 7,600 years ago.

Peanut Butter

Peanut butter was patented in 1884 by Marcellus Gilmore Edson (1849 – 1940) a Canadian chemist. His patent No. 306727 describes the product and the process:

This invention has reference to a new manufacture of peanuts to form a flavoring-paste from said peanuts and a composition of matter to form sweetmeats and candy therewith. I take peanuts and roast them in the ordinary manner, and having removed the shells, and preferably (but not necessarily) while the peanuts are yet warm, I place the said nuts in a grinding-mill, such a mill as is used for reducing grain, &c., to flour. Before the peanuts are placed in this mill its grinding or rubbing surfaces must be heated to a temperature of 100 Fahrenheit, or thereabout. If the peanuts were ground cold by a mill having cold grinding-surfaces, the result would be peanut-flour, which result is old and in use; but by heating the stones or other grinding-body of the mill before the peanuts are put into it (and maintaining the heat afterward) the peanuts will be ground into a fluid or semifluid state, which comes from the mill having the consistency of rather thick or heavy molasses or cream. This, after it has cooled down to about the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere -say 50 to 60 Fahrenheit- will set into a consistency like that of butter, lard, or ointment, and will again become fluid by raising its temperature to about 100 Fahrenheit, and in this liquid form is easily mixed or compounded with flour or fluids. U.S. Patent No. 306727

What is Peanut Butter?

Like other nut and seed spreads, peanut butter consists of solid matter, small nut fragments, suspended in a liquid, the oil released when the nut or seed is ground. Stabilizers and emulsifiers are added to the peanuts during the grinding stage to stop the peanut particles from settling and the oil floating on top of it. As the product cools, these additives immobilize the free oil slowing down the separation process, giving the peanut butter a pleasant texture and reducing stickiness.
Stabilizers are usually hydrogenated oils (soybean, rapeseed, cottonseed) and are used at 2% or less. Note that hydrogenated oils are man-made by adding hydrogen to a normal oil and breaking its double bonds. Some types of hydrogenated oils (partially hydrogenated) are trans fats.

How is Peanut Butter Made?

The process described by Edson is still used. The peanuts are shelled and selected. They are roasted and then cooled and blanched, a process that removes their skin. Then it goes through a grinding process in multiple steps. During grinding, other ingredients like salt, sugar, chopped peanuts (for the chunky or crunchy peanut butter variety), and vegetable oil can be added.

Natural peanut butter does not contain an emulsifier and requires stirring to keep the oil-peanut paste creamy.

Nutritional Value of Peanut Butter

The table below gives the nutritional value for 100 g of peanut butter (roughly 3.6 oz).

The values in Column A are those of a typical processed creamy peanut butter (Spartan® brand) with the following ingredients: peanuts, sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil (rapeseed, cottonseed, soybean), salt, and molasses and is based on information provided by the USDA. (a)

Column B has the information for Smucker's® Creamy Natural Peanut Butter, 100% natural with two ingredients: peanuts and less than 1% salt. (b)

Peanut Butter's Health Benefits

Plant Based compounds with protective effects

Different studies have shown that peanuts have positive health benefits for the heart and diabetes.
Peanuts are a good source of protein and fiber. They include vitamins (&alpha-tocopherol, folate, niacin), minerals (zinc, calcium, iron, magnesium, and selenium), and healthy omega-3 unsaturated fats, as well as antioxidant phytochemicals such as resveratrol, polyphenols as well as phytosterols that have heart-protective effects. (1)

Peanuts, like tree nuts, contain many bioactive plant-based compounds besides fiber, vitamins, and minerals. These include not only saturated fats, but also monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, tocopherols, cholesterol-blocking phytosterols (beta-sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol), sphingolipids, carotenoids, chlorophylls, and alkyl phenols, and phenolic compounds such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, and stilbenes. These have anti-inflammatory and heart-health-promoting properties and they also improve glucose and insulin balance. (9)

Resveratrol is found in cranberries, blueberries, cocoa, wine, grapes, and grape juice. Peanuts are also a source of resveratrol. One cup (258 g) of peanut butter contains between 0.04 and 0.14 mg of this antioxidant. (6)

Health Benefits

• Mortality and Nuts
• Lower Risk of Type-2 Diabetes
• Heart Disease and Peanut Butter
• Weight Gain and Nuts

Mortality and Nuts

Research using data from 566,398 subjects of the National Institutes of Health-AARP (NIH-AARP) Diet and Health Study, followed over an average of 15.5 years revealed that nut consumption was linked with overall mortality: higher intake of nuts "was significantly associated with reduced risk of cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory, infectious, renal and liver disease mortality but not with diabetes or Alzheimer's disease mortality."
However, this wasn't the case with peanut butter, where there were no significant associations between consumption and mortality. (2)

Lower Risk of Type-2 Diabetes

A meta-analysis done in 2021 (4) reviewed eight studies to evaluate the relationship between eating nuts and type-2 diabetes risk. It included different types of nuts (walnuts, total tree nuts, peanuts, and peanut butter) and found that there was an inverse relationship between peanut butter consumption and type-2 diabetes incidence; this same effect wasn't observed for peanuts or tree nuts. This means that a higher intake of peanut butter lowers the risk of this type of diabetes.
The outcome for peanut butter was a 13% risk reduction and the study concluded that "Peanut butter consumption may be inversely associated with this disease."

A similar outcome was found in a study of 83,818 women from the Nurses' Health Study who were followed up for 16 years; it found that eating more nuts was associated with a lower risk of type-2 diabetes. It noted that "Consumption of peanut butter was also inversely associated with type 2 diabetes." The risk reduction was 21% for the women who ate peanut butter 5 times or more a week, representing 5 oz (140 g) per week, compared with those who never or almost never ate peanut butter. (3)

Heart Disease and Peanut Butter

Nuts have been associated with a reduction in cardiovascular disease mortality, with the lowest risk reduction at 15 to 20 g/day. This reduction was found for tree nuts, peanuts, and walnuts however the risk reduction for peanut butter was not significant (2% drop vs. 13-19% for the other nuts).

The authors suggest that "The lack of association with peanut butter may be in part because many peanut butters on the market have added salt, fully hydrogenated oils or oils such as palm oil that can increase the saturated fat content, which could negatively impact their health benefits as compared with whole sources of peanuts." (7)

Some brands contain unhealthy ingredients such as palm oil and hydrogenated oils, so choose healthy natural peanut butter brands.

Weight Gain and Nuts

Weight gain is a common factor as you age. But studies have shown that eating nuts including peanuts can help reduce weight gain and lower the risk of becoming overweight.

A study using data from 373,293 men and women, 25-70 years old, from 10 European countries in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study concluded that a "higher intake of nuts is associated with reduced weight gain and a lower risk of becoming overweight or obese." (5)

These findings were mirrored by research that used data from three studies in the U.S. involving over 144,000 men and women; it found that: (8)

• Those who didn't consume nuts, but "increased peanut butter consumption were not significantly associated with weight gain or the risk of incident obesity."
• Replacing processed meats, chocolates, candy bars, cookies, cakes, and donuts with nuts was associated with less weight gain.
• Nut intake was associated with a lower risk of moderate weight gain (4-10 lb. - 2 to 5 kg), weight gain (over 10 lb., or 5 kg), and becoming obese. Tree nuts provided the best effect with a 4-10% risk reduction. For peanuts, the risk dropped by 3%, and for peanut butter by 2%.

Peanut Butter Cons and Risks

Allergy risk

The main risk associated with peanut butter is allergy.

Peanut allergy appears during childhood before the age of 2. Around 20% of these allergic children will outgrow this allergic reaction and tolerate peanuts as they grow older. However, in some cases, allergic reactions to peanuts can become more severe with age.

The allergy is produced by several proteins found in peanuts.

Peanut allergy symptoms include skin reactions such as rash, and erythema. Tingling in the mouth, throat, lips, difficulty in breathing. They can lead to anaphylaxis.

Allergy management is based on avoiding eating peanuts and products that contain peanuts. (10)

Closing Comments

Peanut butter is a good source of fiber, protein, and healthy plant-based chemicals with health-protecting effects. It should be consumed in moderation due to its high energy content. Choose the natural type that does not contain added sugars, oils, and stabilizers.