11 replies to this topic

[Spherical Cow]

Peanut Butter makes for an interesting nutritional debate. It is a cheap food source, readily available, and easy to consume.

With consumption of this famous food is increasing, its health effects are often subject to study. Calorie dense and nutrient dense it is important to consider the merits of Peanut Butter in a modern diet.

Some bad points

Potential contamination with aflatoxins and samonella, allergenic, saturated fat, very high omega-6, and is peanut oil healthful?

Some good points

It is a non-alcoholic, low-sugar source of resveratrol.
It is an excellent source of Vitamin E.
It is a good source of beta-sitosterol and p-coumaric acid.
It is a source of oleic acid
Good simple source of dietary fibre
Good source of folate
Good protein and zinc source for vegetarian or vegan diet

Interesting topic might be its net carcinogenic potential? Or its associations to cardiovascular disease?

[1kgcoffee]

Delicious, but way too much arachidonic acid to be eaten daily.

[Mind]

I eat peanuts and peanut butter, even though most people I talk to about it here and elsewhere are absolutely horrified at the thought of eating any peanut product.

I am not allergic to it and I am kind-of a paleo-ish eater, so there is not much I worry about with peanuts.....except

The arachidonic acid (minor), and alfatoxin (perhaps a bit more worrisome)

Anyone have any studies conclusively linking peanut butter and cancer? I haven't seen any yet.

[Spherical Cow]

Thank you for your input 1kgCoffee and Mind. I am pleased both of you are interested in this Peanut Butter discussion!

Understandably the large arachidonic acid content is eye-catching (PMID: 17502507 and 2508126). But are the negatives of arachidonic acid fairly counter-balance with positives? Might arachidonic acid have some benefits ?

I agree with Mind that the aflatoxins are perhaps more worrisome.

Interesting to consider is: does the relatively broad spectrum and high content antioxidant arsenal of the Peanut (Resveratrol, Vitamin E, P-coumaric acid, folate, niacin, Oleic Acid, Beta-sitosterol, gamma-linolenic acid...et al) out-joust the aflatoxin's cacinogenic contribution in the context of certain cancers?

Edited by Spherical Cow, 11 June 2013 - 06:16 PM.

[Spherical Cow]

Anyone have any studies conclusively linking peanut butter and cancer? I haven't seen any yet.

Interesting. There is this relatively weak study...http://link.springer...A:1008943200826

But I suppose most of the link will be focusing on aflatoxins and their associations to cancer. Peanuts being a stereotyped as THE aflatoxin magnet. Remember most nuts and many other food sources are susceptible to aflatoxin contamination. For example: Almond butter is lauded as being more healthful than peanut butter. However, almonds are also highly susceptible to contamination (along with hazelnuts and pistachio nuts). There are additional aspects to almond butter that may be undesirable, such as a higher manganese content.

http://www.sciencedi...956713511002556

[Chupo]

I'll have some peanut butter once in a while but I always make sure it's the natural kind where the peanut oil is kept. It should go without saying here but the usual peanut butter has hydrogenated vegetable oils substituted for the natural peanut oil in order to keep it from separating.

[1kgcoffee]

It has benefits in the right quantity. The problem is that it's a precursor to inflammatory and age promoting eicosanoids. From a longevity standpoint, you want to limit these types of PUFA and keep them in a low ratio with omega 3.

[niner]

No one has mentioned lectins, for what it's worth. Here's a comment from a thread on PaleoHacks:

All foods have lectins, all of them. Someone like Cordain or Wolf was talking about specific lectins in legumes and now people seem to think lectins themselves are bad.
So the specific lectin in question here is peanut agglutinin (PNA) and in some studies it has shown to disturb the gut lining, perhaps leading to leaky gut. In a huge rarity, they have actually studied this in adult humans (Identification of intact peanut lectin in peripheral venous blood) and found this lectin can pass through the gut lining. Whether or not it leads to problems needs to be studied, but that's a red flag. The most worrying study so far is "Peanut lectin stimulates proliferation of colon cancer cells by interaction with glycosylated CD44v6 isoforms and consequential activation of c-Met and MAPK: functional implications for disease-associated glycosylation changes," but similar studies have found that red meat does the same, so we have to be careful when looking at studies that look at a chemically isolated constitute of a whole food.
Regardless, peanuts unfortunately contain high amounts of omega-6 fatty acids as PFW says. They also tend to have high levels of carcinogenic aflatoxins (from mold) and are often produced under highly unsanitary conditions that have led to several food poisoning outbreaks.

[deeptrance]

Peanut butter, specifically Laura Scudders Old Fashioned pb (nothing but roasted peanuts and salt), is my #1 "junk food" habit. I typically consume 3 or 4 rice cakes with a thin coating of peanut butter every day. I'm interested in the speculation that it could cause gut disturbances because I do tend to have gut problems and haven't been able to figure out why. Last night I had a larger than normal amount of PB a couple hours before bed and experienced mild stomach pains and abdominal muscle twitching all night. Could there be a connection?

[Debaser]

I eat peanut butter nearly every day. I never thought about it too much. I try to cut down on meat consumption and considered it a good calorie-dense source of protein since I'm trying to build muscle. I did read that it has resveratrol in it, which is good.

I never realised the arachidonic acid was a problem. After reading up on it, people with inflammatory problems should not have it too often. Despite being young and fit, I have been having inflammatory joint problems lately. Not only that, a few weeks ago I had pleuritis, which is inflammation of the lining of the lungs. I wonder if I cut out peanut butter would my problems go away? I probably have a massive omega-6 load since I also eat vegetable spread every day. Both the peanut butter and the vegetable spread contain or are derived from palm oil... this is really making me wonder now.

Edited by Debaser, 03 July 2013 - 08:46 PM.

[Teakles]

In fact it keeps you feeling full longer, so you eat less overall.

[Athanasios]

I eat peanuts and peanut butter...

there is not much I worry about with peanuts.....except

The arachidonic acid (minor), and alfatoxin (perhaps a bit more worrisome)

Hey Mind. If worried about aflatoxins, just eat it with chlorophyll rich foods or take some chlorophyllin.

Much more of these with a pubmed search:
https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/11724948
https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/12628519
https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/19952359