Peanuts and peanut butter provide many essential nutrients and potential health benefits. In moderation as part of an overall balanced diet, peanuts and peanut butter are not likely to increase high blood pressure.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, increases your risk for heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Along with refraining from smoking, reducing your stress levels and exercising with your doctor's permission, a healthy diet may help you lower your blood pressure, according to MayoClinic.com. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, diet, is an eating pattern that may lower your blood pressure, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A 2,000-calorie DASH diet includes at least four to five servings per week of nuts, seeds or legumes, such as 1 oz. of peanuts or 2 tbsp. of peanut butter.
Sodium Content
Peanuts and peanut butter can increase high blood pressure if their sodium content helps put you over your daily limits. A high-sodium diet can exacerbate high blood pressure, and individuals with hypertension should not have more than 1,500 mg sodium per day. A 1-oz. serving of salted, dry-roasted peanuts provides 230 mg sodium, and salted peanut butter has about 147 mg sodium per 2-tbsp. serving. Unsalted dry-roasted nuts and peanut butter without salt have no more than 5 mg of sodium per serving.
Healthy Lipids
Since they are cholesterol-free and the majority of their fat is not saturated, peanuts and peanut butter are not likely to increase high blood pressure. Saturated fat and dietary cholesterol raise levels of cholesterol in your blood, and high cholesterol is a risk factor for hypertension, according to MayoClinic.com. Furthermore, peanuts and peanut butter are rich sources of monounsaturated fats, with 7 to 8 g per serving. Monounsaturated fats may help regulate your blood pressure.
Additional Information
Obesity can cause increases in your blood pressure, and peanuts and peanut butter can cause weight gain if you eat too much of them without reducing your calories from other sources. An ounce of peanuts has 166 calories, and peanut butter has 188 calories per 2-tbsp. serving. In moderation, peanuts and peanut butter may help lower your blood pressure. They are sources of potassium, magnesium and dietary fiber, which may all be necessary for lowering blood pressure, according to the Linus Pauling Institute Micronutrient Information Center.
References
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Legumes and Legume Products
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010
- Linus Pauling Institute Micronutrient Information Center; Nuts; Jane Higdon, Ph.D.; December 2005
- MayoClinic.com; High Blood Pressure (Hypertension); March 2011
- MayoClinic.com; MUFAs: Why Should My Diet Include These Fats?; Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.; November 2010
- Linus Pauling Institute Micronutrient Information Center; Magnesium; Jane Higdon, Ph.D.; April 2003
