Peanut butter: the number on the label came from almonds

Peanut butter is almost never studied on its own. It goes into a bucket labelled nuts. The largest pooled analysis, 129 trials and 9099 people, found lower LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoprotein B from nuts in general. Two things sit underneath that. The graded certainty for the LDL and total cholesterol results is very low, the bottom of the scale, because the trials disagreed and publication bias looks likely. And the authors say their evidence is strongest for almonds and walnuts, which had more than 30 studies each. Nut butter as a form appeared in two studies out of 139.

The numbers, per 100 g

What a real portion looks like

• Europe refused the exact sentence a peanut butter jar would want to carry: two tablespoons a day for healthy cholesterol. — — Evidence E source
  Status Non-authorised; all three register entries mentioning peanuts are non-authorised, including the 30 g a day wording for nuts generally

What cooking and storage change

• Roasting cuts aflatoxin B1 in nuts by roughly half, which lowers the problem without removing it. — 19 trials on nuts, most of them on peanuts; no people were involved (n = 19 trials) Evidence D source
  Roasting reduced aflatoxin B1 by 46.91%, B2 by 30.66%, G1 by 40.88% and G2 by 26.19%; fumigation reduced B1 by 20.88% and total aflatoxin by 22.56%; irradiation reduced B1 by 58.60% and total by 74.97%

What it does to your health

• Nuts including peanuts lowered LDL cholesterol and several other blood markers across 129 trials, and the graded certainty behind the LDL number is very low. — 153 articles describing 139 studies, 81 parallel and 58 crossover, with 129 studies in the meta-analysis (n = 139 studies) Evidence A source
  Significant falls in LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, triglycerides, the total-to-HDL and LDL-to-HDL ratios and apolipoprotein B; GRADE certainty moderate for the two ratios and apoB, low for triglycerides, and very low for LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol because of inconsistency and likely publication bias
• Nuts do not raise the metabolic rate in any measurable way. What keeps the weight steady is that people eat less afterwards, and how much less depends on the form the nuts were in. — 1121 adults across 27 studies covering almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, pistachios, walnuts and mixed nuts (n = 1121) Evidence A source
  Resting energy expenditure rose by a non-significant 28.6 kcal a day (95% CI -10.7 to 67.8); energy compensation after nut loads ranged from -280.5% to +176.4% and varied with whether the nuts were whole or chopped and whether they were eaten alone or within a meal

Who this works differently for

• Waiting past a baby's first birthday to offer peanut went with two and a half times the odds of food allergy in pooled observational data. — 2.8 million participants across 190 studies in 40 countries; 176 studies identified 342 risk factors (n = 2800000) Evidence C source
  Overall food allergy incidence by food challenge was likely 4.7% (moderate certainty); introducing peanut after age 12 months carried an odds ratio of 2.55 with a risk difference of 6.8% (95% CI 1.9-14.6); eczema in the first year carried an odds ratio of 3.88
• When only randomised trials were pooled, early peanut did not show a clear effect, while early egg did. The stronger design gave the weaker answer. — 8 randomised controlled trials in infants (n = 8 trials) Evidence A source
  Introducing eggs before 6 months reduced egg allergy (RR 0.60; 95% CI 0.46-0.79), and more strongly in infants with a prior or family history of allergic disease (RR 0.55; 0.40-0.75); the narrative synthesis found no conclusive relationship between early peanut introduction and peanut allergy, and none for cow's milk protein

What is still unknown

• The same review says where its evidence is actually strong, and peanuts are not on that list: almonds and walnuts have more than thirty studies each, peanut butter has two. — subgroups by nut type across 139 studies; nut butter appeared as a form in 2 studies, nut oils in about 18 and nut flour in 1 (n = 139 studies) Evidence A source
  Subgroup analyses differed by nut type for LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, triglycerides, the LDL-to-HDL ratio and apoB, and the authors call the evidence stronger for almonds and walnuts because of the greater number of studies

The bottom line

Nuts do not speed up your metabolism. Pooled trials put the change in resting energy expenditure at 28.6 kcal a day with a confidence interval that crosses zero. What keeps nut eaters from gaining weight is that they eat less afterwards, and how much less swings enormously with the form the nuts came in and whether they were eaten alone or inside a meal. Ground nuts inside a meal, which is exactly what peanut butter is, sit at the weak end of that range. On aflatoxin, roasting cuts B1 by about 47 percent in laboratory tests done mostly on peanuts, which lowers the level without removing it. For babies the two study designs disagree and both belong on the page: pooled observational data link introducing peanut after 12 months with 2.55 times the odds of food allergy, while pooled randomised trials found no conclusive relationship for peanut, unlike egg. Europe refused the exact sentence a jar would want, two tablespoons a day for healthy cholesterol. When a first taste of peanut belongs in a particular baby's life is a medical question, especially if that baby already has eczema or a family history of allergy. Ask the person who sees the child.

Sources

1. pnb-dr-07 · regulatory register entry
   POL-HC-7733 Peanuts, Peanut butter, Peanut oil Consuming a small handful, about 30 grams, of peanuts a day as part of a diet low in saturated fat helps to achieve healthy cholesterol levels and promotes heart health. Consuming two tablespoons, about 30g, of peanut butter a day as part of a diet low in saturated fat helps to achieve healthy cholesterol levels and promotes heart health. Consuming two tablespoons, about 30 grams of peanut oil a day as part of a diet low in saturated fat helps to achieve healthy cholesterol levels and promotes heart health. Non-authorised
   EU Register on nutrition and health claims, заява POL-HC-7733, знімок 2026-09-21 · checked 2026-09-22
2. pnb-dr-04 · systematic review and meta-analysis of food processing experiments
   The results showed that the roasting method significantly reduced aflatoxin B1, B2, G1, and G2 concentrations by 46.91%, 30.66%, 40.88%, and 26.19%, respectively.
   Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr, 2022 · checked 2026-09-22
3. pnb-dr-01 · systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
   The certainty of the body of evidence for TC:HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol:HDL cholesterol, and apoB were "moderate" because of inconsistency, for TG were "low," and for LDL cholesterol and TC were "very low" because of inconsistency and the likelihood of publication bias.
   Adv Nutr, 2023 · checked 2026-09-22
4. pnb-dr-03 · systematic review and meta-analysis
   The meta-analyses identified a nonsignificant increase in REE associated with nut consumption (weighted mean difference: 28.6 kcal/d; 95% CI: -10.7, 67.8 kcal/d).
   Adv Nutr, 2023 · checked 2026-09-22
5. pnb-dr-05 · systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies
   delayed solid food introduction (eg, peanut after age 12 months [OR, 2.55; RD, 6.8%; 95% CI, 1.9%-14.6%])
   JAMA Pediatr, 2026 · checked 2026-09-22
6. pnb-dr-06 · systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
   The systematic review found no conclusive relationship between early peanut introduction and peanut allergy, nor the correlation between early cow's milk protein introduction and cow's milk protein allergy (P>0.05).
   Zhonghua Er Ke Za Zhi, 2021 · checked 2026-09-22
7. pnb-dr-02 · systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
   This review suggests stronger evidence for almonds and walnuts because of the greater number of studies (n > 30), and therefore more studies are needed
   Adv Nutr, 2023 · checked 2026-09-22