Peanuts

Is Peanut Butter Good for You?

The idea of peanut butter is often paired with jelly in the form of a sandwich in a child's lunchbox. On the flip-side, adults actually eat more peanut butter every year than kids. All ages agree that peanut butter tastes good, but how good is peanut butter for your body?

Isn't it highly caloric?

At 190 calories per tablespoons, peanut butter is one of the world's most caloric foods.

But,

that same serving delivers eight grams of protein, which is not only nutritionally vital but appetite suppressing.

Isn't it also very fatty?

Of those 190 calories, 130 are fat, making peanut butter one of the fattiest foods.

But,

like olive oil fat, peanut butter fat is unsaturated, suggesting that it can lower cholesterol and perhaps fight disease. By contrast, fat from dairy and red meat can raise cholesterol and contribute to disease. Like protein, fat also suppresses appetite which is why some studies of weight control show that high-fat diets are more effective than low-fat diets.

Are reduced-fat peanut butters a healthier option?

No, because sugar is generally used to replace fat. Nutritionally, that's a bad trade-off, and it barely lowers the calorie count.

Is natural peanut butter nutritionally superior?

Yes, because it contains no trans fats, which are used in processed peanut butters to keep the oil from separating. But most kids (and many adults) turn their noses at natural peanut butters, and the difference isn't that significant.