Selma Roth Saudi Gazette Roasted and eaten as a snack, ground into a butter, or cooked into a sauce: Peanuts are a popular ingredient in many sweet and savory dishes, candy bars and sandwiches all over the world. Apart from being versatile, peanuts are high in nutrition. They are a good source of vitamin E, folate and other B vitamins, as well as the minerals calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and zinc. While they are high in fats - there are 14 grams of fat in a 1-ounce serving of raw peanuts - most of these are heart-healthy monounsaturated in addition to polyunsaturated fats. If that is not enough, peanuts are also high in protein - 7 grams per serving - and contain a decent amount of fiber, about 2.4 grams in a single serving. Allergy worries Despite their ubiquitousness, many people avoid eating peanuts due to allergy fears. In fact, peanut allergy in the US has been recognized as one of the most severe food allergies because of its prevalence, persistency and potential severity of allergic reaction. For some people, traces of peanuts can be life threatening. Ironically, a recent major study suggests that one reason for the widespread prevalence of peanut allergy could be the lack of early exposure to peanuts among babies who seem likely to develop such allergy. The study, carried out by researchers at King's College in London, involved over 600 infants between 4 and 11 months old in England who were thought to be at risk for peanut allergy because they were allergic to eggs or had eczema. They found that exposing them to peanuts actually help prevent an allergy, lowering the risk by no less than 81 percent. The leader of the study even said that the common practice of withholding peanuts from babies could have been responsible for the alarming rise in peanut allergies Western countries have seen over the last decade. Two observations must be made, though. First of all, the babies participating in the study were checked to make sure they did not already have a peanut allergy before being fed foods that included peanuts, and the researchers warn parents not to feed their babies products containing peanuts if their babies are thought to be at risk for an allergy. Secondly, whole peanuts are dangerous for small children, as they can choke on them. The babies were given peanut butter or other products that contained peanuts. Peanuts and heart health While the amount of monounsaturated fats in peanuts have been linked to improved heart health for some time, a new study confirms that eating peanuts may help you live longer and healthier. In this study, researchers looked at the diets of over 200,000 people from lower income households and different ethnic groups in the US and China and found that nut consumption was linked with reduced total mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality. The study was unique in that it focused on low-income black and white populations in the US and China rather than the higher-income, white populations previous nut studies had looked at. However, before you go nuts on candy bars and salty peanut snacks, experts caution against eating large quantities of these or nuts in general, as nuts and snacks made with them tend to be high in calories. Limit your consumption to a small handful of raw or unsalted roasted nuts to get the health benefits and prevent taking in too many calories. Facts you didn't know about peanuts • The peanut, sometimes called groundnut as the fruit grows several inches in the ground, is actually a legume and not a nut. It belongs to the same family as beans and lentils. Peanuts were first cultivated in Paraguay; the Spanish conquistadors spread the nut from there throughout Latin America. Later, European traders took the peanut to the rest of the world. • Until the 1930s, peanuts were mainly used as animal feed. A US Department of Agriculture program started to promote the human consumption of peanuts in the late 19th and early 20th century. • This campaign paid off: Today, peanuts account for two-thirds of all snack nuts consumed in the US, and they contribute more than US$4 billion to the US economy each year. • China leads the production of peanuts worldwide, with a share of 42 percent. India and the US follow second and third. • Archibutyrophobia is a known phobia that refers to the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth. • March is National Peanut Month in the US, while March 1 is National Peanut Butter Lover's Day.
