Have you seen the news story touting peanut butter’s ability to lower BMI? It was featured this morning on CT’s Channel 3 Eyewitness News. We didn’t catch the full story but the headline plastered on the screen was alluring enough. Can peanut butter really lower your BMI?
The Snacking Study
We dug a little deeper into the actual study conducted to get the facts knowing that sometimes the news can embellish the truth. 😉 The study titled, “Benefits of a snacking intervention as part of a school-based obesity intervention for Mexican American children” was conducted in Texas from 2005 to 2012 with children ages 2 – 19. The study’s purpose was to investigate the feasibility of including peanut snacks as intervention for obese Mexican American adolescents. They hypothesized that children who had peanut butter snacks would end up with lower BMI due to the protein content in peanuts and peanut butter. The results of the study showed that children in the peanut butter snacks group did lower their BMI compared to others who were able to snack freely afterschool. The results were insignificant between the two groups for weight loss or tricep skin fold measurement improvement however the researchers said they were ‘trending for significance.’
Are the researchers onto something? Probably. Do we like peanut butter? Oh yea! But in moderation of course. Peanuts and peanut butter products do have a better protein content than other snacking options so these would be great for kids who might otherwise choose chips, twinkies, or cookies.
The Skinny on Peanut Butter
Peanuts have the good fat – monounsaturated fat – which is okay to eat in proper serving sizes. See the reduced fat peanut butter jars in the grocery aisle? Forget them. There are usually the same amount of calories, or even more, and unhealthy additives thrown in to make up for the lower fat content like salt or sugar.
Because this yummyis so yummy it is easy to overeat – and the serving size of 2 tablespoons is rather small so be mindful and portion out ahead of snacking. Our Live Sculpted best tip for peanut butter is a powdered version, like PB2, or at the very least a natural kind without added salts & sugars. Check out product labels and pick a version that has peanuts as the sole ingredient.