16 May 2013 Spotlight on peanuts: a compact super food and ingredient
Food and nutrition professionals convened recently in Napa, California, at an event sponsored by The Peanut Institute to hear research on a unanimous finding: Peanuts are more nutritious than any other nut and should be categorised as a super food.
At a time when most Americans are eating more snacks than meals, consuming whole peanuts and peanut butter as snacks would have significant nutrition and health benefits.
More than half of the US population consumes three or more snacks a day and recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data suggest that snacks made from nutrient- and fibre-poor refined grains constitute the bulk of consumers’ daily calories. Moreover, consumption of vegetables has reduced from 28% of daily caloric intake in 1978 to 19% as of 2010. Fewer than 10% of Americans consume five or more servings of vegetables and fruits per day despite the publicised recommendations in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the MyPlate initiative.
Increased consumption of peanuts and peanut products as snacks would decrease the trend of unhealthy snacking as well as increase daily servings of plant-based foods. Peanuts contain close to 8g of protein per28g , which is more protein than any other nut, and are also a good source of fibre.
Besides protein and fibre, peanuts contain more than 300 bioactive compounds, including vitamin E, phytochemicals such as beta-sitosterol and resveratrol, manganese, and L-arginine. In addition, recent research indicates that the synergistic action of the bioactive compounds in peanuts has a beneficial effect on chronic disease: Regular consumption of peanuts reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.
Additional reading:
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