Why are nuts associated with lower mortality rates but peanut butter is not?
Research into the greatest risk factor for death in human history shows that poor diet causes more deaths than anything else. As you can see below and at 0:20 in my video “Do Peanut Butter’s Health Benefits Include Longevity?”, tobacco kills only about 8 million people a year, but the human diet kills millions more.What is the worst aspect of our diet? Processed meat? Twinkies? soda? No, the five most dangerous things in our diets, as shown here and at 0:42 in my video, are not enough fruit, not enough whole grains, not enough vegetables, too much salt, and not enough nuts and seeds.
This is not surprising, as intervention trials have shown that eating nuts improves arterial function and that arterial diseases such as heart disease are one of the leading causes of death. But that’s not all nuts can do. It also has the potential to improve blood sugar control, lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation, reduce oxidative stress, and nourish our friendly gut flora. Does this happen to all nuts, or just the nuts?
What about peanuts and peanut butter? Approximately half of peanut consumption in the United States comes from peanut butter, but the association between peanut butter consumption and mortality has not been fully evaluated. To find out more, we can turn to the National Institutes of Health-AARP study, the largest prospective study of health and diet in history, which has followed more than 500,000 people since the 1990s.
Researchers found that nut consumption generally appeared to protect against all-cause mortality. This means that people who eat nuts live longer on average. Specifically, you’re less likely to die from causes such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, respiratory disease, kidney disease, and infections (so nuts may also help your immune system). However, no such association was found for peanut butter. So peanut butter doesn’t seem to matter when it comes to living longer. why?
Peanut butter consumers are known to be more likely to eat more meat, smoke cigarettes, and exercise less, but researchers controlled for all of these factors in addition to alcohol intake, fruit and vegetable intake, and education. So it’s not like peanut butter eaters were eating more white bread sandwiches or anything. (However, the researchers didn’t control sugar intake, so it’s possible they were eating more sugary jelly.)
Another explanation: The processing that goes into making peanut butter means that trans fats, oils, salt, and sugar may be added. However, regular nuts are often eaten with added oil, sugar, and salt.
Is it just the peanuts themselves? Technically, they’re nothing special, so they probably don’t have the same benefits. But that’s not the case. A meta-analysis of all such studies found similar nutty benefits for whole peanuts, but not for peanut butter.
Well, what even unsalted, oil-free, unsweetened nut and seed butters lack is an intact cell structure. As we mentioned in How Not to Diet, no matter how well you chew nuts, whole or chopped, some of the nutrients are trapped within the tiny particles, delivering plenty of prebiotic goodness to our gentle gut flora. When you think about it, you wonder if there was any difference between chunky peanut butter and smooth peanut butter.
On the other hand, there is “compelling evidence” to recommend eating nuts (preferably raw over salted or toasted, and whole or chopped over nut butter) at least three times a week to maximize your chances of living longer and healthier.
doctor’s note
The healthiest nut may be the walnut. See walnuts and arterial function.
But don’t nuts make you fat? See Nuts and Obesity: Weight of the Evidence.
I mentioned my book “How Not to Diet,” but you can read more about it here. (All proceeds from my book will be donated to charity.)
