Peanut nutrition

A daily serving of peanuts or peanut butter may be a great way to boost your intake of hard-to-get nutrients, according to recent research from Penn State University (Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2004, vol. 23, no. 6). Although peanuts are high in fat, they’re packed with vitamins A, E, and C, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and fiber, all of which are on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s list of nutrients that most Americans don’t get enough of. A single serving of peanuts, defined as 1 ounce of nuts (a small handful) or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, contains 16 percent or more of the recommended daily intake of vitamin E, and as much fiber (2 grams) as a typical slice of whole-wheat bread. The study also found that despite peanuts’ high fat content, peanut eaters actually have leaner bodies than those who don’t eat peanuts, as defined by the body mass index scale