Is peanut butter good or bad for your health?
Peanut butter is one of the world’s most popular butter enjoyed by millions of people, especially for health benefit. The question if peanut butter is good or bad for you is hotly debated. Peanut butter can be healthy for you because it contains vitamins, minerals, fibre, and is a good source of protein. However, some say that peanut butter is bad for you as it contains a lot of calories and fat.
Peanut butter was first produced in the 1890s as a high protein food that was easy to consume. Peanut products, including peanut butter, contain monounsaturated fatty acids as well as some saturated fats. Studies have shown that eating peanut butter in moderation can be a good source of healthy calories. Rather than buying junk food, choose real peanut butter. It should contain nothing but peanuts and maybe a bit of salt.
Peanut butter is an excellent plant-based source of protein which comprises of 25 % of about protein, however, it is low in essential amino- acid methionine. Peanut butter is relatively unprocessed food. It's basically just peanuts, often roasted, that are ground until they turn into a paste.
The health concerns about peanut butter are generally related to unhealthy added ingredients in some varieties. Some peanut butter brands contain added sugar, salt, oil or other additives to modify the flavour. Eating too much added sugar and trans fat has been linked to various health problems, such as heart disease. However, these ingredients can turn peanut butter into a food that is bad for you.
Peanut butter has a shelf life of around 3 months once opened and longer if kept in a refrigerator. In time, peanut butter can go rancid where its bitter taste is a sign that it has gone bad.
Nutrition analysis:-
The whole package of nutrients you'll get from peanut butter make it a healthy choice when consumed in moderation. Even though it has 16 grams of total fat, 80 per cent of the total consists of healthy unsaturated fats, which is similar to olive oil for the ratio of good to bad fats. One serving, or 2 tablespoons, of peanut butter, contains 2 grams of dietary fibre, 6 grams of total carbohydrates and 8 grams of protein. It's also a good source of vitamin E, vitamin B-6 and magnesium.
’Its a Good Protein Source
Peanut butter is a fairly balanced energy source that supplies all of the three macronutrients. A 100g portion of peanut butter contains;
- Carbohydrate: 20 grams of carbs (13% of calories), 6 of which are fibre.
- Protein: 25 grams of protein (15% of calories), which is quite a lot compared to most other plant foods.
- Fat: 50 grams of fat, totalling about 72% of calories.
Even though peanut butter is fairly protein-rich, it’s low in the essential amino acid methionine. Peanuts belong to the legume family, which also includes beans, peas and lentils. Legume protein is much lower in methionine and cysteine compared to animal protein.
For those who rely on peanut butter or beans as their main protein source, methionine insufficiency is a real risk. On the other hand, low methionine intake has also been hypothesized to have some health benefits.
Pure peanut butter contains only 20% carbs, making it suitable for a low-carb diet. It also causes a very low rise in blood sugar and is a perfect option for people with type 2 diabetes. One observational study showed that women who ate peanut butter 5 times per week or more were at a 21% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.
Peanut butter is very high in fat, a 100-gram portion contains a hefty dose of 588 calories. Despite their high-calorie content, eating moderate amounts of pure peanut butter or whole peanuts is perfectly fine on a weight-loss diet.
Half of the fat in peanut butter is made up of oleic acid, which has several health benefits, such as improved insulin sensitivity, a healthy type of monounsaturated fat also found in high amounts in olive oil.. Two tablespoons of peanut butter contain 8 grams of monounsaturated fats and 4 grams of polyunsaturated fats.. These good fats, when used in moderation, can benefit your health by decreasing your risk for certain diseases such as heart disease.
Unsaturated fats lower bad cholesterol and improve good cholesterol, according to Harvard Health Publications. You'll get these healthy fats from fish oils and plant-based foods, such as vegetable oils, nuts, seeds and soybean oil.
It also contains some linoleic acid, an essential omega-6 fatty acid abundant in most vegetable oils.
Peanut butter is rich in vitamins and minerals. A 100-gram portion of peanut butter provides many vitamins and minerals :
- Vitamin E: 45% of the RDA
- Vitamin B3 (Niacin): 67% of the RDA
- Vitamin B6: 27% of the RDA
- Folate: 18% of the RDA
- Magnesium: 39% of the RDA
- Copper: 24% of the RDA
- Manganese: 73% of the RDA
It is also high in biotin and contains decent amounts of vitamin B5, iron, potassium, zinc and selenium. Although peanut butter is rich in vitamins and minerals, it also contains a substantial amount of calories
Peanut butter is also rich in antioxidants like p-coumaric acid and also contains some resveratrol, which is associated with a lower risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases in animals
Peanut butter is a Bad Fats:-
Saturated and trans fats are considered bad fats because they have a negative effect on heart health. Saturated fats increase levels of bad cholesterol without affecting good cholesterol. Trans fats are worse because they increase bad cholesterol while lowering levels of good cholesterol. Saturated fats are mainly found in animal-based food products such as high-fat meats, whole milk and full-fat dairy products. A 2-tablespoon serving of peanut butter has 3 grams of saturated fats, but it doesn't have any trans fats.
Recommendations:-
With 188 calories in a 2-tablespoon serving, peanut butter should be consumed in moderation to prevent weight gain. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 encourages adults to limit overall fat consumption to 20 to 35 per cent of their total daily calorie intake, and limit saturated fat intake to less than 10 per cent of their daily calories. For a 2,000-calorie diet, this means consuming between 44 and 78 grams of total fat and less than 23 grams of saturated fat.
There are a lot of good things about peanut butter, but also a few negatives.
It’s fairly rich in nutrients and a decent protein source. It’s also loaded with fibre, vitamins and minerals, although this doesn't seem as significant when you consider the high-calorie load. On the other hand, it’s a potential source of aflatoxins, which are associated with harmful effects in the long run.
Even though you shouldn't use peanut butter as a dominant food source in your diet, it’s probably fine to eat every now and then in small amounts. But the main problem with peanut butter is that it's so incredibly hard to resist. If you eat only small amounts at a time, it probably won't cause any harm. However, it can be almost impossible to stop after eating just a spoon full.
So if you have a tendency to binge on peanut butter, it may be best to avoid it altogether. If you can keep it moderate, by all means, continue to enjoy peanut butter every now and then.
Moderate consumption of peanut butter is unlikely to have any major negative effects as long as you are avoiding truly awful foods like sugary soda, trans fats and other highly processed junk foods.
Conclusion:-
When you’re choosing peanut butter, keep this in mind: The benefits come from the peanuts themselves. And many peanut butter contains nothing more than nuts and maybe some salt. As brands begin to add in other ingredients, like sugars for sweetness and hydrogenated or palm oil to keep the product from separating, they displace some of the nutrients from the peanuts.
In a recent study that looked at the heart health benefits of nuts, researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that eating peanuts reduced risk, but peanut butter did not.
This doesn't mean that peanut butter isn't healthy, just that they did not find an effect. One reason why peanut butter didn't rank as being good for you in this study may be because people tend to eat peanut butter with foods that are mostly white flour or are high in added sugars, such as white bread and jelly. It may also be that salt and sweeteners such as honey or sugars added to many peanut butter cancel out some of the nut butter's benefits.
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