# Are nuts and peanut butter healthy foods to eat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 23, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207 "2011-12-23T19:01:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blueslipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/1 "2011-12-23T19:01:34Z")
I tried to ask this in another thread. But it was hijacked by people talking about allergies. Leaving aside nut allergies, are nuts and peanut butter healthy foods to eat? If you want to talk about nut allergies, look up the other thread. There seems to be a perception that nuts and peanut butter are bad for your health. I thought they were, in general, healthy foods. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/2 "2011-12-23T19:08:57Z")
My understanding is nuts have a high calorie density but also have nutrients so it’s not “empty” calories like pop. If you go around eating jars of peanut butter or cans of cashews you’ll get fat, but they’re healthy in reasonable quanties like a peanut butter sandwich or a handful of cashews or two. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/3 "2011-12-23T19:30:35Z")
[Sure](http://www.dietriffic.com/2010/04/27/are-nuts-fattening/) [they](http://www.healthcastle.com/nuts-benefits.shtml) [are](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nuts/HB00085). Note that commercial peanut butter, particularly in the US, tends to have a lot of sugar added, boosting the caloric content significantly. ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/4 "2011-12-23T19:33:27Z")
Nuts like walnuts are high in Essential Fatty Acids, which some people think are good for you. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/5 "2011-12-23T19:47:05Z")
Nuts are not unhealthy in the way, say, twinkies are unhealthy. They do provide nutrition. However, overeating is unhealthy, because if you overeat you gain weight, and it’s unhealthy to be overweight. Unfortunately, it’s really easy to overeat nuts. About 75% of the calories in nuts come from fat; the other 25% is protein. There is also almost no water or air. This means that a visually small portion is really high in calories. I mean, I could probably eat more nut calories in a sitting than I could eat twinkie calories, honestly. And since people think of nuts as “healthy”, they are more likely to not worry about eating too many. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/6 "2011-12-23T20:58:42Z")
Peanuts are not nuts. But some nuts, in limited quantities, have been shown to be healthy. Walnuts and almonds in particular, although there may be other nuts that are good for you, too. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/7 "2011-12-23T21:25:49Z")
You do note **John** that our op did not state “nuts like peanuts”, but “nuts _and_ peanut butter” (emphasis mine). Yes, peanuts are a pulse, like lentils. But from a nutritional POV nuts, peanuts, and a variety of seeds are often handled as a group. **DCnDC** ’s links do a fine job of summarizing the literature. If someone wants a more academic treatment of the subject they can read [this review](http://www.ajcn.org/content/89/5/1643S.full) as well: > [@](#): > > Epidemiologic evidence is compelling for the protective effects of nuts on risk of CHD. Nuts improve serum lipids and perhaps other indexes of CHD risk. Nuts probably lower the risk of diabetes in women, but the effect remains unknown in men. Although nuts are high in fat, the fear about nut consumption leading to weight gain may be assuaged because epidemiologic and clinical evidence so far showed that frequent nut consumption is not related to obesity. The association between nut consumption and cancer risk is not adequately studied. Nuts are commonly included in dietary scores or patterns associated with positive health outcomes. And [this](http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/9/1746S.full): > [@](#): > > Epidemiologic and clinical trial evidence has demonstrated consistent benefits of nut and peanut consumption on coronary heart disease (CHD) risk and associated risk factors. The epidemiologic studies have reported various endpoints, including fatal CHD, total CHD death, total CHD, and nonfatal myocardial infarct. A pooled analysis of 4 U.S. epidemiologic studies showed that subjects in the highest intake group for nut consumption had an ∼35% reduced risk of CHD incidence. … in addition to a favorable fatty acid profile, nuts and peanuts contain other bioactive compounds that explain their multiple cardiovascular benefits. Other macronutrients include plant protein and fiber; micronutrients including potassium, calcium, magnesium, and tocopherols; and phytochemicals such as phytosterols, phenolic compounds, resveratrol, and arginine. Nuts and peanuts are food sources that are a composite of numerous cardioprotective nutrients and if routinely incorporated in a healthy diet, population risk of CHD would therefore be expected to decrease markedly. In short those who eat the most nuts tend to be the healthiest. Most people who eat the most nuts not only do not tend to overeat them but tend to eat less otherwise and burn more even at rest. Go unsalted though. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/8 "2011-12-23T21:45:38Z")
High calories aside, I think it’s important to distinguish the types of processing involved. “Natural” peanut butter, the kind where the oil separates, is not the same as most kid-friendly peanut butter that has added emulsifiers and sugar. Years ago, peanut butter labels prominently mentioned hydrogenated vegetable oil as an ingredient, but now that transfats are known to be bad for you, they have either changed the emulsifier or called it something else. I don’t know whether they’ve made it any healthier. Similarly, nuts that can be eaten raw will not be the same as most canned nuts that are roasted in vegetable oil and then heavily salted. I used to love raw walnuts, but for whatever reason, in the last couple years there have been more and more of them that look exactly the same as the tasty ones, but taste absolutely terrible, some combination of bitter, rancid, and moldy. I buy the 3-pound bags at Costco, and I’m to the point where I have to sample a tiny bite of each one before I’ll pop it into my mouth, because instead of having one or two duds per bag, some bags have one or two duds per handful. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/9 "2011-12-23T23:14:41Z")
> [@HoboStew](#): > > Nuts like walnuts are high in Essential Fatty Acids, which some people think are good for you. Whereas others think that they are essential. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/10 "2011-12-24T00:56:22Z")
When you get right down to it, they are essentially fatty acids. ---
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/11 "2011-12-24T13:02:19Z")
Nuts are very healthful. Peanut butter was developed to provide a way to bring a high level of nutrition to those who had bad teeth and couldn’t chew properly or at all. The only bad thing about nuts, other than if you’re allergic, is they are high in calories, or rather dense. And being extra delicious you over eat them :o) ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/12 "2011-12-24T15:17:32Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > High calories aside, I think it’s important to distinguish the types of processing involved. “Natural” peanut butter, the kind where the oil separates, is not the same as most kid-friendly peanut butter that has added emulsifiers and sugar. Years ago, peanut butter labels prominently mentioned hydrogenated vegetable oil as an ingredient, but now that transfats are known to be bad for you, they have either changed the emulsifier or called it something else. I don’t know whether they’ve made it any healthier. It takes such a small amount of hydrogenated oil to stop separation that there’s no reason to be concerned that the peanut butter becomes “unhealthy”. > **[Non-detectable levels of trans-fatty acids in peanut butter - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11368602/)** > > The fatty acid composition of 11 brands of peanut butter and paste freshly prepared from roasted peanuts was analyzed with emphasis on isomeric trans-fatty acids. No trans-fatty acids were detected in any of the samples in an analytical system with a... ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-nuts-and-peanut-butter-healthy-foods-to-eat/607207/13 "2011-12-24T15:33:36Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > It takes such a small amount of hydrogenated oil to stop separation that there’s no reason to be concerned that the peanut butter becomes “unhealthy”. > > [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11368602](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11368602) That is great news; it means I can stop using natural PB. Unfortunately, I bought a ton of it a month or so ago when I heard the prices would be going up.