How That Peanut You Found Under Your Couch Cushions Could Save Your Life
There’s a good reason why your dietitian may advise you to add peanuts to your diet, since they’re packed with nutrients and proteins. There’s a better reason as to why your doctor may tell you to eat peanuts though. A healthy amount of peanut consumption can help reduce the risks of heart disease at any age. Not only will you find that there is zero milligrams worth of cholesterol in peanuts, you might also notice that they help manage the cholesterol you already have.
According to studies as well as a claim made by the United States Food and Drug Administration, if consumed in moderation, peanuts lower cholesterol. Of the fats within peanuts, the unsaturated fats are actually extremely beneficial to your heart health. The fat content in peanuts is primarily made up of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which help lower your overall cholesterol and triglycerides and help keep the good kind of cholesterol at an optimum level. These mono- and polyunsaturated fats contain heart healthy characteristics as olive oil, and the small amount of saturated fats in peanuts are actually within the limit for nuts set by the American Heart Association.
This goes for most peanut products as well. Peanut butter contains most of the same nutritional value of peanuts including the same heart healthy properties. The reason being is because the FDA states that in order for peanut butter to be called peanut butter, it has to consist of at least 90% peanuts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also found that peanut butter contained no detectable trans fats in any kind of peanut butter. If you’re concerned that the only kind of peanuts you like are the flavored kind, well that’s okay too. Studies showed that even flavored peanuts can help reduce bad cholesterol and help keep the good kind high.
There are so many nutritional and health beneficial properties of peanuts that it’s hard to say which of them are best. If you’re at risk for heart disease, remember that there’s no cholesterol in peanuts and they actually help your heart keep pumping as healthy as possible. If you want to change your diet up, consider finding new and exciting peanut recipes or peanut snack ideas to add to your diet for tasty ways to stay healthy.