Good News About Peanuts

Pass the peanuts and schmear on the peanut butter as a study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that eating peanuts, as well as nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, and pistachios, may help you live longer.   While other studies have shown that nuts may help you reduce your risk of heart disease, the No. 1 killer of Americans, this study also looked at the consumption of peanuts.  Peanuts are a nutritional dietary ringer as they are a good source of protein, healthy unsaturated fats, vitamin E, fiber, and phytochemicals, all of which can help to keep you healthy.   

Researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine analyzed the diets of over 200,000 subjects living in the southwestern United States and in China and uncovered that those who consumed more peanuts, as well as nuts, had over a 15 percent reduced risk of dying, particularly from heart disease, as compared to those who consumed minuscule or none daily. 

While peanuts are actually not a nut, but rather, a legume, this is good news as peanuts and peanut butter comprise over 65 percent of the �nut� consumption by Americans:

Why is this study so important?  An editorial by Mitchell Katz, MD, in the Journal sums it up for us: �peanuts are cheap and ubiquitous�..[so may] help us live longer at an affordable price.�

Here are some ways to swap out some food and swap in nutritious peanuts and peanut butter during the day to potentially reap this inexpensive benefit:

Enjoy!

Be well, Joan

Twitter: @JoanSalgeBlake