Is Peanut Butter Good For You, or Bad?

Is Peanut Butter Good For You, or Bad?

Real peanut butter is a relatively unprocessed food. It’s pretty much just roasted peanuts that are ground until they turn into peanut butter.

Many commercial brands of peanut butter have loads of vegetable oil, sugar and other ingredients added. These are definitely not good for you.

In this video I’m referring to real peanut butter, which is basically only peanuts, perhaps mixed in with a bit of salt. So it basically has all the properties of eating whole peanuts.

Now about 72% of the calories in peanut butter come from fat, with 15% from protein, and 13% from carbohydrate.

This classifies it as a very high calorie food, but also a great vegetarian source of protein.

It’s also a pretty good source of important vitamins and minerals and fiber, but not nearly as nutritious as fruit and vegetables when comparing calorie for calorie.

Even though peanut butter is quite nutritious, there have been some concerns over a potentially harmful substance in peanuts called aflotoxins.

Some studies in humans have linked aflatoxin exposure to liver and kidney cancer.

But there is good news… according to one source, the processing of peanuts into peanut butter reduces the aflatoxins by 89%.

Additionally, the USDA monitors the amounts of aflatoxins in foods and makes sure that they don’t go over recommended limits.

The other potential issue is that about 30% of the fats in peanut butter are omega-6 fatty acids. Excessive Omega-6s in the diet are associated with inflammation and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Most people are already eating too many Omega-6s, and too few Omega-3s, which are thought to be protective. Commercial peanut butter contains vegetable oil which adds even more Omega-6.

Overall peanut butter is fairly rich in nutrients and fiber, and a decent source of protein.

But it is a large source of omega-6 fats, a potential source of aflatoxins, and perhaps most importantly very calorie-dense.
If you eat only small amounts at a time, then it’s quite neutral for health. But if you eat a lot, and you want to lose weight, then it’s a habit you ought to change.

Studies mentioned:
Study 1: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25285504
Study 2: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271288476_Aflatoxin_Carryover_during_Large_Scale_Peanut_Butter_Production