Is peanut butter disturbing you every time you try to make a proper, healthy diet using healthy foods in healthy portions? Don’t know what food group is peanut butter in or confusion between the two groups?
Peanut butter is obviously a healthy yet versatile food and an essential part of a well-balanced, healthy diet. Though peanut butter seems like dairy, it is classified as a protein food by the USDA.
Read on, to find out more about peanut butter, why it is in the protein group, and more.
What is Peanut Butter?
Peanut butter is an unprocessed food made by roasting, grinding, and turning the peanuts into a paste.
However, many commercial brands add vegetable oils, sugar, and Tran’s fats to it. It’s a high source of protein and nutrients while also being loaded with vitamins, fiber, and minerals.
If you are health conscious, choose peanut butter that is only made of peanuts and includes salt, avoiding processed foods.
What Food Group is Peanut Butter in?
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), peanut butter contains a minimum of 90% peanuts and around 10% additives like salt, oils, and sugar. Peanuts are not only nuts but can also be considered legumes like peas or beans.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) divided food into five different food groups, including vegetables, grains, fruits, protein foods, and dairy.
Their intention in classifying food is to help the consumer eat various types of food to get proper nutrition and maintain a healthy body.
While some foods can be easily classified and put into a certain group, peanut butter isn’t one of them. It means you can easily define milk as a dairy food.
However, peanut butter appears to be both a protein food and a dairy food. In this case, the USDA can aid you out. They define peanut butter as a protein food.
The reason is that every two tablespoons of peanut butter contain around 8 grams of protein, making it a rich source of protein.
The USDA also states that every tablespoon of peanut butter is the same as one ounce of meat, one egg, or half an ounce of seeds or nuts, as well as 1/4 cup of cooked beans.
Final Words
After understanding what food group is peanut butter in, hope now you can make a proper meal for your healthy diet. It also allowed for adding a moderate amount of peanut butter to a diet as it wouldn’t have any major negative effects.
But remember, peanut butter is a bit hard to resist, and eating unprocessed peanut butter can cause adverse effects on health as it contains aflatoxins.