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Peanut Butter Nutrition Facts

Peanut Butter Nutrition Facts
Peanut butter is made from ground, dry-roasted peanuts. The Aztecs were the first to make peanut butter by grinding roasted peanuts into paste. The first person to patent peanut butter was Marcellus Gilmore Edson in 1884. Modern peanut butter can be made with only peanuts or with other additives such as vegetable oils and sugar. Although called a peanut, it is not actually a nut; it is a legume. Peanut butter's popularity spreads from North America to the United Kingdom, to the Netherlands, Asia, Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Peanut butter is cholesterol free and high in healthy, unsaturated fats. Peanut butter also contains a lot of protein, minerals, and vitamins. For this article, we are providing nutritional information regarding all-natural peanut butter. This means that the only ingredients in the peanut butter we refer to are peanuts and salt.
Interesting Peanut Butter Nutrition Facts:
Peanuts originated in South America thousands of years ago. Native South Americans and Aztecs consumed them as an important part of their diet, even making the first peanut paste.
George Washington Carver made the peanut popular in North America in the 1800s. He discovered that they had many uses and could be grown where cotton fields had been destroyed by the boll weevil.
The peanut is not actually a nut, but a legume. However it contains many of the same nutrients and properties that nuts contain.
Peanuts have to be properly stored and processed to avoid the development of aflatoxin, which is a poison and known carcinogen that it much more toxic than DDT.
Peanut butter is rich in monounsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats are an important part of a heart-healthy diet. Monounsaturated fats found in peanut butter can reduce cardiovascular disease risk by more than 20% when consumed regularly.
Peanut butter contains resveratrol, a phenolic antioxidant that has shown to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. This phytonutrient is also able to improve the blood flow to the brain which can reduce the risk of stroke by up to 30%.
To lower the risk of coronary heart disease, one only needs to consume one tablespoon of nut butter or peanut butter, four times each week.
Peanuts contain phytic acid, phytosterols, and folic acid, which have shown to be anti-cancer effects.
Peanuts contain beta-sisterol, a phytosterol that has proven to be a preventative food against colon cancer. It may reduce the risk of developing colon cancer by 27% in men and 58% in women if consumed at least twice a week.
The consumption of peanut butter may reduce the risk of developing gallstones by 25%.
Peanut butter contains niacin which helps to protect against Alzheimer's disease.
Although high in calories and fat, consuming peanut butter as part of a healthy diet actually lowers an individual's risk of gaining weight.
Peanut butter is low on the glycemic index, which means it does not spike blood sugar and is safe for diabetics.
Peanut butter contains healthy amounts of biotin, copper, manganese, vitamins B3, E, and B1, phosphorus, folate, protein and molybdenum.
1 ounce of peanut butter contains 165 calories, 14 grams of fat, 7 grams of protein and 4 grams of carbohydrates.
Peanut butter is considered to be one the world's healthiest foods, provided one does not have a peanut allergy of course.


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