Health Benefits of peanuts
Posted on | August 23, 2006 | No Comments
peanuts
In addition to being every kid’s (and many grownup kid’s) favorite sandwich filling, peanuts pack a serious nutritional punch and offer a variety of health benefits.
Your Heart Will Go Nuts for Peanuts
Peanuts are a very good source of monounsaturated fats, the type of fat that is emphasized in the heart-healthy Mediterrranean diet. Studies of diets with a special emphasis on peanuts have shown that this little legume is a big ally for a healthy heart. In one such randomized, double-blind, cross-over study involving 22 subjects, a high monounsaturated diet that emphasized peanuts and peanut butter decreased cardiovascular disease risk by an estimated 21% compared to the average American diet. In addition to their monounsaturated fat content, peanuts feature an array of other nutrients that, in numerous studies, have been shown to promote heart health. Peanuts are good sources of vitamin E, niacin, folatemagnesium. In addition, peanuts provide resveratrol, the phenolic antioxidant also found in red grapes and red wine that is thought to be responsible for the French paradox: the fact that in France, people consume a diet that is not low in fat, but have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared to the U.S. With all of the important nutrients provided by nuts like peanuts, it is no wonder that numerous research studies, including the Nurses’ Health Study that involved over 86,000 women, have found that frequent nut consumption is related to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.
Peanuts Rival Fruit as a Source of Antioxidants
Not only do peanuts contain oleic acid, the healthful fat found in olive oil, but new research shows these tasty legumes are also as rich in antioxidants as many fruits.
While unable to boast an antioxidant content that can compare with the fruits highest in antioxidants, such as pomegranate, roasted peanuts do rival the antioxidant content of blackberries and strawberries, and are far richer in antioxidants than apples, carrots or beets.
Research conducted by a team of University of Florida scientists, published in the May 2005 issue of the journal Food Chemistry, shows that peanuts contain high concentrations of antioxidant polyphenols, primarily a compound called p-coumaric acid, and that roasting can increase peanuts’ p-coumaric acid levels, boosting their overall antioxidant content by as much as 22%. Plus, in recent years, researchers at University of Florida and several other universities have bred new peanut varieties with higher levels of oleic acid—the monounsaturated fat responsible for many of olive oil’s health-promoting effects. Called SunOleic peanuts, these cultivars, which contain 80% oleic acid and only 2-3% linoleic acid, not only provide the health benefits associated with this monounsaturated fat, but remain fresh 3 to 15 times longer than regular peanuts, and are also much lower in saturated fat and reduce Risk of Stroke
Resveratrol, a flavonoid concentrated not in peanuts as well as in grapes and red wine, can improve blood flow in the brain by 30%, thus greatly reducing the risk of stroke, according to the results of a rat study published in the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Strokes occur when blood clots or an artery bursts in the brain, interrupting its blood supply. In the U.S., where every 45 seconds, someone will experience a stroke, according to the American Stroke Association, strokes are the leading cause of disability and the 3rd leading cause of death.
In this animal study, Taiwanese researchers divided 60 adult male Wistar rats into three equal groups. The first group served as a control. The second group underwent surgery in which their carotid artery was tied off to cause a reduction in blood flow to the brain (cerebral ischemia), and the third group underwent the same operation, but also received an intravenous dose of resveratrol (20 milligrams per kilogram of body weight).
In the second group, blood flow to the brain decreased by 65% compared to the control group, but in the third ischemia plus resveratrol group, blood flow only decreased by 35%.
Lead researcher Kwok Tung Lu hypothesized that resveratrol exerted this very beneficial effect by stimulating the production and/or release of nitric oxide (NO), a molecule made in the lining of blood vessels (the endothelium) that signals the surrounding muscle to relax, dilating the blood vessel and increasing blood flow. In the rats that received resveratrol, the concentration of nitric oxide (NO) in the affected part of the brain was 25% higher than that seen not only in the ischemia-only group, but even in the control animals.
Help Prevent Gallstones
Twenty years of dietary data collected on 80,718 women from the Nurses’ Health Study shows that women who eat least 1 ounce of nuts, peanuts or peanut butter each week have a 25% lower risk of developing gallstones. Since 1 ounce is only 28.6 nuts or about 2 tablespoons of nut butter, preventing gallbladder disease may be as easy as packing one peanut butter and jelly sandwich (be sure to use whole wheat bread for its fiber, vitamins and minerals) for lunch each week, having a handful of almonds as an afternoon pick me up, or tossing some walnuts on your oatmeal or salad.
Protect against Alzheimer’s and Age-related Cognitive Decline
Research published in the August 2004 issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry indicates regular consumption of niacin-rich foods like peanuts provides protection against Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline.
Researchers from the Chicago Health and Aging Project interviewed 3,718 Chicago residents aged 65 or older about their diet, then tested their cognitive abilities over the following six years.
Those getting the most niacin from foods (22 mg per day) were 70% less likely to have developed Alzheimer’s disease than those consuming the least (about 13 mg daily), and their rate of age-related cognitive decline was significantly less. One easy way to boost your niacin intake is to snack on a handful of peanuts—just a quarter cup provides about a quarter of the daily recommended intake for niacin (16 mg per day for men and 14 for women).
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