December 29, 2006
Peanuts & Nutrition
contributed by Lisa @ the National Peanut Board
Peanuts and Peanut Butter are Naturally Cholesterol and Trans Fat Free.
- Trans-fats:
According to a study by the United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS), both natural and commercial brands of peanut butter contain no detectable trans-fats.
Much of the confusion about trans-fats in peanut butter occurs because of the way peanut butter is labeled. Most peanut butters contain only three or four ingredients. By law, peanut butter must consist of at least 90 percent peanuts. In addition, a minimum amount of salt and sugar is usually added for taste, plus about one to two percent stabilizer to improve texture and increase shelf-life. The stabilizer typically is hydrogenated vegetable oil. (“Non-detectable Levels of Trans-fatty Acids in Peanut Butter,” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, May 2001.)
- Cholesterol:
Peanut butter contains no cholesterol. In fact, more than 80 percent of the fat in peanut butter is the cholesterol-lowering, good unsaturated kind. Researchers at Penn State University compared a moderate-fat diet that included peanuts and peanut butter to a low-fat diet and to the average American diet. They found that both the peanuts/peanut butter diet and the low-fat diet lowered total and LDL blood cholesterol levels, but the peanuts/peanut butter diet was more effective than a low-fat diet in maintaining levels of good HDL-cholesterol and lowering triglyceride levels (American Journal Clinical Nutrition, 1999).
Scientific evidence suggests that eating 1.5 oz of nuts a day—including peanuts—as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease.
