Is Peanut Butter Good for You?

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An update on the healthfulness of nut consumption, and whether the cardiovascular benefits extend to peanut butter.

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It was another nutty year in nutrition—most of which we already knew. Walnuts lower our cholesterol—been there; done that.

This was a little surprising. The scientific record has been crystal clear that eating nuts does not make you fat, but the Harvard Nurses’ study just found that eating nuts may actually help you lose weight. How? Nuts may increase our resting energy expenditure by as much as 11%. Meaning those who eat nuts burn more calories just sitting, sleeping, breathing. If there were some pill that could do that, it would be making some drug company billions of dollars!

Nuts were also shown this year to suppress cancer growth, and may also decrease inflammatory markers. You eat butter; inflammation goes up. You slug down a quarter cup of olive oil? Nothing happens—other than you taking in about a quarter day’s worth of mostly empty calories. And three handfuls of walnuts significantly decreased inflammation.

Same thing with almonds: three handfuls a day significantly reducing inflammation throughout the body, and three daily handfuls of pistachios significantly improving the function of our arteries. As one headline put it: a “Handful of pistachios could destroy cholesterol.”

We know that nuts are good for us. But what about peanut butter? Peanuts aren’t actually real nuts; they’re legumes. Peanut butter: harmful, harmless, or outright helpful? And the answer is: helpful.

Last year, a new Harvard study found that women at high risk for heart disease eating peanut butter every day had only about half the risk of suffering a heart attack compared to women who stayed away from the stuff.

So even nuts that aren’t even nuts are good for you. The only caveat is to “Watch out for nuts in your travels.” An unusual case of drug-facilitated robbery reported last year in the Journal of Travel Medicine. The perpetrator employed a highly unusual and very creative method, where he cut hazelnuts in half, carved them so that he could implant his choice of drug—in this case a valium-like drug called Klonopin—and then glued them back together. To overcome the unpleasant taste of the drugged hazelnuts, he mixed them with dried raisins. He then offered this mixture to fellow passengers who sat next to him during the trip. How generous these locals are! When the traveler was unconscious, he stole everything they had. But other than that, nuts are good for us.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

It was another nutty year in nutrition—most of which we already knew. Walnuts lower our cholesterol—been there; done that.

This was a little surprising. The scientific record has been crystal clear that eating nuts does not make you fat, but the Harvard Nurses’ study just found that eating nuts may actually help you lose weight. How? Nuts may increase our resting energy expenditure by as much as 11%. Meaning those who eat nuts burn more calories just sitting, sleeping, breathing. If there were some pill that could do that, it would be making some drug company billions of dollars!

Nuts were also shown this year to suppress cancer growth, and may also decrease inflammatory markers. You eat butter; inflammation goes up. You slug down a quarter cup of olive oil? Nothing happens—other than you taking in about a quarter day’s worth of mostly empty calories. And three handfuls of walnuts significantly decreased inflammation.

Same thing with almonds: three handfuls a day significantly reducing inflammation throughout the body, and three daily handfuls of pistachios significantly improving the function of our arteries. As one headline put it: a “Handful of pistachios could destroy cholesterol.”

We know that nuts are good for us. But what about peanut butter? Peanuts aren’t actually real nuts; they’re legumes. Peanut butter: harmful, harmless, or outright helpful? And the answer is: helpful.

Last year, a new Harvard study found that women at high risk for heart disease eating peanut butter every day had only about half the risk of suffering a heart attack compared to women who stayed away from the stuff.

So even nuts that aren’t even nuts are good for you. The only caveat is to “Watch out for nuts in your travels.” An unusual case of drug-facilitated robbery reported last year in the Journal of Travel Medicine. The perpetrator employed a highly unusual and very creative method, where he cut hazelnuts in half, carved them so that he could implant his choice of drug—in this case a valium-like drug called Klonopin—and then glued them back together. To overcome the unpleasant taste of the drugged hazelnuts, he mixed them with dried raisins. He then offered this mixture to fellow passengers who sat next to him during the trip. How generous these locals are! When the traveler was unconscious, he stole everything they had. But other than that, nuts are good for us.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

Nota del Doctor

What else do nuts do? Check out:
PREDIMED: Does Eating Nuts Prevent Strokes?
Four Nuts Once a Month
Nuts May Help Prevent Death
Tree Nuts or Peanuts for Breast Cancer Prevention?

And check out my other videos on nuts. 

For more context, see my associated blog posts: Stool Size and Breast Cancer Risk; NutritionFacts.org: the first month; and Soymilk: shake it up!

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