Widely regarded as nuts, peanuts are actually legumes (like beans, peas and lentils) and grow under the ground, not up in trees. The peanut plant is a low bush whose stems burrow beneath the soil where the pods containing the peanuts mature (a little like potatoes). We often say, peanuts “the nut that’s really a bean”. Their nutritional profile is similar to olive oil, with heart-health monounsaturated fats and they also contain protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals.
On average in every handful of peanut kernels (a 30g serving) there's:
| ENERGY | 170 calories |
| PROTEIN - high quality vegetable protein |
25.6% (7.7g) |
| CARBOHYDRATE | 12.5% (3.8g) |
| FAT - mainly unsaturated fat, no cholesterol Of which saturates Of which monounsaturates (the main fat found in olive oil) Of which polyunsaturates |
46.1% (13.8g) 8.2% (2.5g) 21.1% (6.3g) 14.3% (4.3g) |
| FIBRE soluble and insoluble fibre as found in beans, dried fruit and bread |
6.2% (1.9g) |
| SODIUM equivalent to 0.005g of salt - only 0.083% of the recommended 6g daily salt intake guideline for adults |
0.002g |
| VITAMINS: 8 including antioxidant Vitamin E, B1, B2, B3, B6 and folate |
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| MINERALS: 13 including magnesium, phosphorus, copper, zinc and selenium which are hard to get from everyday diets |
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