How healthy is peanut butter? And is it better to eat home made than shop bought?
Whether it be deciding what to spread on your toast for breakfast, add into your milkshakes when you fancy a sweet treat, or bake into your oatmeal for something a little more filling, peanut butter is always a solid choice to bring the flavour - and it’s not just us that say so.
There’s been no shortage of viral recipes featuring nutty spreads, new jars using a variety of nuts to create the moreish beige gloop, and foodie hotspots all around the world have started adding peanut butter dishes onto their menus. There’s no denying the hold it has on us all – crunchy or smooth, we can’t get enough of the nutty spread! It’s no wonder more and more companies are having a go at creating the best, and healthiest, peanut butter out there. Not that we’re complaining, of course.
It's surprisingly easy to make, consisting ‘usually 95% roasted peanuts, some sort of oil be it peanut oil, palm oil, maybe some emulsifiers added plus some sugar and/or salt’ shares freelance dietitian Lesley Reid.
With new versions being brought out to shops every day and new recipes for the perfect homemade peanut butter popping up everywhere online, it can be hard to figure out which peanut butter is the best, and whether the spread is even healthy at all.
So, let’s find out; how healthy is peanut butter?
What does the research say about peanut butter?
If you thought that peanut butter is mainly for people wanting to gain some weight, you’re not alone. ‘There is no getting away from how high in calories peanut butter is,’ shares specialist dietitian and Chair of the British Dietetic Association for London Sophie Medlin.
‘Despite what Instagram has us believe, peanut butter actually has more calories per gram than chocolate,’ Sophie explains. ‘However, it’s important not to demonise any food and put others on a pedestal.’
She notes that peanut butter contains ‘healthy fats and some useful micronutrients including vitamin E, vitamin B3, magnesium, manganese and copper, some of which can be limited in our diets.’
What’s more, those fats that we just mentioned? ‘Half of the fat in peanut butter is made up of oleic acid, a healthy type of monounsaturated fat also found in high amounts in olive oil,’ shares freelance dietitian Lesley Reid. Get this; research suggests that diets high in monounsaturated fats are more effective than high-carb diets for weight loss.
How healthy are nut-based spreads?
Peanut butter, much like all nut-based spreads, is a pretty unprocessed food, with very few extra added ingredients, and a very good source of protein and fibre.
Interestingly, crunchy peanut butter specifically is a fab source even if you may miss out on some nutrients because whole nuts are only partially digested, and specialist dietitian Sophie Medlin explains how absorbing slightly less nutrients also means that ‘you’re likely to absorb less of the fat and therefore slightly fewer calories from crunchy peanut butter when compared to smooth, despite the labels reading the same calorie number.’
However, choosing peanut butter in general, whether it be crunchy or smooth, may still give you a little extra over other nut-based spreads. ‘Peanut butter contains a good source of protein compared to other plant foods,’ explains freelance dietitian Lesley Reid. ‘This is due to it being from the legume family - think beans and lentils’ she says.
Peanut Butter vs. Almond Butter
Ah yes, the debate of the spreads.
There are so many different types of plant-based spreads. So. Many. While the choice is amazing to see, it can make figuring out which spread you want to go for hard. After all, they won’t all have the same nutrition, the same calories, or the same taste.
Almond butter is another nutty spread that has received a lot of attention in the past few years, and with good reason. Much like peanut butter, almond butter is a flavoursome, healthy choice to add to your diet – so which is better?
Specialist dietitian Sophie Medlin shares that for fibre and vitamins, your best bet would be almond butter. ‘Almonds and peanuts contain some of the same nutrients but some different ones. Almonds have more fibre, vitamins A and E and more calcium than peanuts’, she explains.
If you’re looking for the choice with the most protein packed into each serving, your best friend is peanut butter, according to freelance dietitian Lesley Reid. ‘Peanut butter has slightly more protein’, she explains.
In terms of fats, both butters are a good source of healthy fats. Peanut butter has slightly more PUFAs (known to help with a whole heap of health issues due to its anti-inflammatory effects) than Almond butter, but Almond butter has slightly more MUFAs (fab for lowering cholesterol, blood pressure and other heart disease risk factors) than peanut butter.
With all this in mind, is there a clear winning nut spread between the two? Apparently not. ‘Really there is very little difference between the 2 types of nut butters’ explains Reid, and Medlin agrees, adding very similar advice – ‘have the one you like the best as the difference is minimal.’
Is homemade peanut butter better for you than shop bought?
One of the biggest benefits that comes from making your own peanut butter is knowing exactly what has gone into it. ‘Making your own peanut butter - if you have the time, equipment and inclination - is a good way to make sure that you control the important things like how much sugar, salt and oil is added’, shares specialist dietitian Sophie Medlin.
However, there are more pros to making your own peanut butter than you might think. Freelance dietitian Lesley Reid explains how ‘if you want you can mix up the nuts you use, maybe blend in some seeds too. It will last up to 3 months in your fridge if you keep it in an airtight container.’ Not only will you have the chance to play around with the flavours, making your own will come out cheaper than buying your spread from the shop.
That being said, how much would you miss out on nutritionally if you didn’t have the time to make your own peanut butter? ‘If you’re able to buy peanut butter without anything added, there are no major benefits to making your own’, explains Medlin. When looking at the spreads on the shelves, Reid advises to ‘check the ingredients and go for the one that is in your price range with the least ingredients, then you know it is as near to the original nut as possible.’
So, should I be eating peanut butter?
‘We absolutely can but we don’t have to!’ explains specialist dietitian Sophie Medlin.
Sure, PB is packed with nutrients and may leave you fuller for longer, but there are always other foods that contain the same health benefits – and eating healthy means enjoying your food just as much as enjoying the right foods. ‘If you’re eating peanut butter because diet culture told you to, but you’d rather be eating something else, then eat the other thing’ she shares (and that includes eating the nuts as they are).
For those of us that can’t get enough of the stuff? ‘My advice is to check the labels, know what you are buying, buy the best one you can afford and know your limits’ shares freelance dietitian Lesley Reid. Make sure you go for an option without high amounts of added sugar or salt and switch up your nut spreads to get a variety of nutrients.
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