Peanuts come in many forms, my per­son­al favourite be­ing peanut but­ter. Even though they have a healthy nu­tri­tion­al pro­file, peanuts are very calo­rie-dense food, so it’s good to en­joy them in mod­er­a­tion (this in­cludes peanut but­ter, un­for­tu­nate­ly). Peanuts are rich in; phos­pho­rus, potas­si­um, B vi­t­a­mins and mag­ne­sium, just to name a few. Due to its mix­ture of healthy fats, peanuts are per­fect for help­ing the con­sumer feel fuller for longer, mak­ing peanuts a healthy go-to snack that pro­vides more long-term ben­e­fits.

Since peanuts come in a num­ber of dif­fer­ent forms, how do you know which is the best for you? Well, raw peanuts are usu­al­ly the best way to go be­cause there are lim­it­ed ad­di­tives. If you’re buy­ing roast­ed or salt­ed peanuts, keep in mind that con­sum­ing too much sodi­um has been linked to high blood pres­sure, so try eat­ing such forms in mod­er­a­tion.

When pos­si­ble, choose raw peanuts with the skin still on, since the skin of peanuts con­tains an­tiox­i­dants which help pro­tect the body’s cells from free rad­i­cal dam­age.

Al­ways re­mem­ber to en­joy peanuts and peanut but­ter in mod­er­a­tion as snacks through­out the day, or make them a crunchy ad­di­tion to your sal­ad. Here are some health ben­e­fits of peanuts:

Aids in weight loss

Boosts heart health

Can help man­age blood sug­ar lev­els

Re­duces the risk of breast dis­ease

Please keep in mind that one very com­mon al­ler­gy is a peanut al­ler­gy which is caused when a per­son’s body mis­tak­en­ly iden­ti­fies peanut pro­teins as some­thing harm­ful. Di­rect or in­di­rect con­tact can cause life-threat­en­ing symp­toms to some­one who may be al­ler­gic. If you are al­ler­gic to peanuts please be mind­ful that these ben­e­fits may not ap­ply in your par­tic­u­lar case and please con­sult a doc­tor be­fore con­sum­ing any type of nut to iden­ti­fy the risk fac­tors.