Peanuts contain a compound that may help reduce the risks of cancer and heart disease, according to a study by scientists at the US Department of Agriculture. The report says peanuts are a rich source of resveratrol, which is also contained in red wine and grapes.
Its bittersweet taste makes peanut butter a versatile culinary addition to many foods: from the traditional peanut butter sandwich to more sophisticated dishes such as pasta or salads: this is the reason why it's loved by children and adults, fast-food junkies and gourmet lovers!
Nuts are generally the seeds or extensions of fruits, encased in a hard outer shell, and grow on flowering upright trees or shrubs. One common misconception about nuts is that peanuts are one of them. Well, peanuts may be crazy, but they certainly aren't nuts; peanuts are in fact legumes, like beans or peas (edible seeds that grow inside pods), and grow underground.
The best approach is to reap the health benefits of eating nuts but not add excessive calories to your daily intake. So instead of simply adding nuts to your diet, eat them in replacement of foods that are high in saturated fats and limit your intake of these tasty treats to 1 to 2 oz per day . For instance, instead of adding chocolate chips when making cookies, sprinkle on some nuts. Or instead of making a deli meat sandwich, try a nut butter toast.
Peanuts are available in various forms- raw or roasted, shelled or unshelled, and salted or unsalted. They are enjoyed regularly at baseball games, at circuses, and as snacks on short airplane flights. It's probably enjoyed most when it's turned into a gooey butter and paired up with jelly in between two slices of bread. Approximately one hundred million jars of peanut butter are bought every year!
Peanuts provide enough fiber and water to help keep a person regular. Plant fiber in particular helps keep the good bacteria in the gut well fed so that it can do its job in effectively breaking down the foods we eat. With just a handful of peanuts, you are ingesting almost 10 percent (2 grams) of the daily recommended amount of fiber. Eaten peanuts just a few times each week can prevent the formation of gallstones, and lowers the risk of colon cancer.
Nuts are of course a fatty food and many might worry that they will put on weight by eating more nuts. After all, 30 grams (or one ounce) of most nuts contain about 800 kilojoules (200 kilocalories). Happily though, on present evidence, nuts do not seem to cause weight gain. For example in the Nurses' Study the frequent nut consumers were actually a little thinner on average than those who almost never consumed nuts, and daily supplements of almonds or peanuts for six months resulted in little or no increase in body weight.
They're a great source of protein. And they're also extraordinarily high in polyphenols -- the Arnold Schwarzenegger of the antioxidant family. Yes, peanuts are high in fat. But now we know that, like avocados, they are high in the "good" kind -- monounsaturated fat. They also contain magnesium, folate, vitamin E, copper, arginine, and fiber -- all of which are known to lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
