Crunchy or smooth, peanut butter has long been a favorite snack in all our 'healthy' diets. Whether spread on toast, blended into a smoothie, or mixed into oatmeal, it’s a go-to comfort food, especially if you got into fitness for the gains. But for those looking to lose weight, peanut butter often raises concerns due to its high calorie and fat content. However, research suggests that incorporating peanut butter into a balanced diet may actually support weight loss—if consumed correctly.

A study in the October 2018 issue of the European Journal of Nutrition looked at almost 375,000 individuals and concluded that those who habitually consumed peanuts or other nuts packed on fewer pounds after five years than those who didn't. In a few instances, even nut-eaters lost weight. Kids who ate peanuts and peanut butter were found to have lower body weights and improved overall diet by a 2013 Nutrition Research study.

Peanut butter is rich in fiber, healthy fats, and protein—three essential nutrients that suppress hunger, increase satiety, and fuel metabolism. Yet, there are some pitfalls individuals take when introducing peanut butter into their diets that may ruin their weight-loss plan.

Why Peanut Butter Can Be Good for Weight Loss?

Nutrient-rich and extremely versatile, peanut butter is a food far more than its delicious spread suggests. It contains a wealth of essential vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients, so it is a highly desirable part of a balanced diet. In 100 grams of peanut butter, there is:

• Calories: 588
• Protein: 21.9 grams
• Fats: 49.5 grams (predominantly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats)
• Carbohydrates: 24 grams
• Dietary Fiber: 5.7 grams

In addition to these macronutrients, peanut butter is also a rich source of magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, niacin, and vitamin B6, all of which are essential to metabolism, immune function, and overall health. Notably, although it is rich in fat, most of the fat content is composed of heart-healthy unsaturated fats that are able to lower cholesterol levels and maintain heart health.

Common Mistakes That Ruin Your Weight Loss While Eating Peanut Butter

Though peanut butter may be a helpful tool in the management of weight, using it to commit some of these very common mistakes could cause unwanted weight gain instead of weight loss.

Mistake 1: Using Peanut Butter with Added Salt and Sugar

Not all peanut butter is the same. Most commercial brands have added sugar and salt, which can be detrimental to weight loss. Excessive sodium can cause water retention and bloating, and too much sugar adds unnecessary calories and increases cravings.

What to do instead: Use natural peanut butter with few ingredients—preferably only peanuts (and perhaps a little salt). Steer clear of versions containing added hydrogenated oils, sugars, and artificial preservatives.

Mistake 2: Eating It Straight From the Jar

We've all been there—taking a spoonful (or three) of peanut butter right out of the jar. But it's all too easy to overestimate how much you're taking in. Two tablespoons is a typical serving, which has approximately 190 calories. When you eat it right out of the jar, it's all too easy to take several servings and add a huge number of calories to your diet.

What to do instead: Measure your portions carefully. Stick to two tablespoons per serving and use a spoon rather than eating straight from the container.

Mistake 3: Always Pairing Peanut Butter With Jelly or Chocolate

Traditional peanut butter combinations such as PB&J sandwiches or chocolate and peanut butter can be tasty, but they are full of secret sugars. Regular jelly is full of added sugars, and chocolate-flavored peanut butter snacks can easily transform a nutritious snack into a calorie-laden treat.

What to do instead: Combine peanut butter with better options such as fresh fruit, whole-grain bread, or Greek yogurt. You can also experiment by combining it with other savory foods like soy sauce, lime juice, and ginger as a healthy salad dressing.

How to Add Peanut Butter Into a Healthy Diet?

To maximize the weight-loss benefits of peanut butter, patience and restraint are important. Here are some intelligent ways to have it without ruining your progress:

• Make it a protein boost: Spread peanut butter on whole-grain bread or add it to oatmeal to satisfy you longer.
• Create a high-protein dip: Combine peanut butter with Greek yogurt for a nutrient-rich fruit dip.
• Boost your smoothies: Mix peanut butter with banana, spinach, and almond milk to make a nutritious smoothie.
• Mix with homemade energy bites: Mix peanut butter with oats, chia seeds, and honey for a snack that is good for you.
• Add to the top of meals: Spread a thin layer on rice cakes, or drizzle over roasted vegetables for a flavor boost.

Is Peanut Butter Good for Muscle Building and Weight Maintenance?

If your aim is to gain muscle weight instead of weight loss, peanut butter can still be an important part of your diet. It delivers a healthy amount of protein—eight grams per two-tablespoon serving—albeit not as dense as others such as chicken, fish, or protein bars. Its calorie density, though, does make it a suitable choice for when one is required to take more in without taking on large quantities of food.

For athletes and bodybuilders, peanut butter is a great source of energy. The mix of protein, good fats, and carbohydrates gives the body sustained fuel for exercise and muscle repair.

Peanut butter can be a great help in weight reduction, muscle development, and health overall—if taken properly. Opting for the right kind, keeping portion control in check, and combining it with nutrient foods are key to getting the best out of it.

While the World Health Organization recommends 5g or a tablespoon of salt every day, Indians consume more than double, increasing their risk of having a fatal stroke exponentially.

According to EatRightIndia, Indians consume about 11g of salt each day through meals which can significantly increase their risk of high blood pressure, strokes and hypertension.

Hypertension causes over 1.6 million deaths annually, accounting for nearly 18 percent of all fatalities and heavily contributes to deaths caused by heart disease, stroke and kidney disease.

What Is Excessive Salt Dangerous?

The most important side effect of consuming excessive salt intake is high blood pressure. Salt causes the body to retain water, increasing the volume of blood in your vessels and leading to elevated pressure levels. If your blood pressure consistently measures over 140/90 mmHg, it's time to evaluate your salt consumption.

Over time, this can rapidly raise your risk for heart disease, stroke while also potentially contributing to stomach cancer and weakened bones. Additionally, high blood pressure damages kidneys and excess sodium can lead to kidney stones or disease.

Apart from a 5gm recommendation for adults, NHS suggests that children between seven to 11 years of age should not eat more than 5g of salt while those between four to six years of age should eat less than 3g of salt every day to maintain heart health.

How Can You Reduce Your Salt Consumption?

Both excessive and insufficient salt intake have been linked to adverse outcomes. Achieving the right balance is critical, and the best approach is to minimize processed food consumption rather than relying solely on the salt shaker.

Common items such as pickles, paapads, chutneys, salads and buttermilk significantly contribute to daily salt consumption. Hidden salts in packaged goods like biscuits, sauces, condiments and snacks also can increase your salt intake.

To cut down on your salt intake, experts recommend:

• Not adding salt in rice and dough for chapati, poori and paratha.
• Not sprinkling salt on salad, cut fruits, cooked vegetables or curd.
• Gradually reducing the salt usage while cooking from lesser to least.
• Limit food accompaniments like salted butter, salty spice mixes (chaat masala, jal jeera masala etc.), chutneys, pickles, ketchups, sauces and dressings as they contain excess salt.
• Baking soda, baking powder, and monosodium glutamate (MSG) also contains high sodium and should be avoided in your daily cooking.
• Not keeping salt on the table.
• Buying tinned vegetables, pulses or fish in water instead of brine.
• Being aware that some dissolvable tablets, such as painkillers, vitamins or prescription medicines, may be high in salt.

Tagatose, a natural sugar with a third of the calories of table sugar, may be the up-and-coming safe alternative to unhealthy added sugars, scientists say.

Researchers from Tufts University, Massachusetts in partnership with biotechnology companies Manus Bio (US) and Kcat Enzymatic (India), claim that tagatose, found in only small amounts in some dairy products and fruits, is a healthier option than regular sugar and sweeteners.

The experts also claim it this rare natural sugar also does not cause insulin spikes, making it safe for consumption for both Type 1 and 2 diabetes patients. Tagatose has also been previously recognized as safe for consumption by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Certain studies have also found tagatose to be 'tooth friendly', as it can limit the growth of harmful microbes in the dental cavity and prevent tooth decay as well as cavities.

How Is Better Than Other Artificial Sweeteners?

Due to being a natural sugar with similar taste and bulk to sugar but fewer calories, minimal blood sugar impact, prebiotic benefits and heat-stable for baking, tagatose is known to better than artificial sweeteners.

Moreover, it also lacks the bitter aftertaste common with some artificial sweeteners such as saccharin and stevia and tastes 92 percent as sweet and 60 percent less calories than common sugar.

With low calories and low absorption, tagatose is an attractive bulk sweetener, meaning it can not only can replace sugar for sweetness but can also provide a similar bulk texture in cooking that comes with adding the sugar in some quantity, something that high intensity sweetener substitutes are unable to do due to their composition.

Can Diabetes Patients Consume It?

Yes, tagatose can be eaten by insulin-resistant people as it's only partially absorbed in the small intestine; much of it being fermented by gut bacteria in the colon. Because of this, its impact on blood glucose and insulin is much less than that of conventional sugar.

Clinical studies show very low increases in plasma glucose or insulin after ingestion of tagatose. However, in the gut, the rare sugar is metabolized in a similar way to the fruit sugar, fructose, meaning those with fructose intolerances may want to steer clear

Where Can I Buy It?

While tagatose is far more beneficials than other commercially-available sugars, it remains unavailable due to limited production. "There are established processes to produce tagatose, but they are inefficient and expensive," explains biological engineer Nik Nair from Tufts.

But it can still be found in milk and other dairy products when lactose is broken down by heat or enzymes, such as yogurt, cheese and kefir. Along with this, fruits such as apples, pineapples and oranges also contain trace levels of tagatose as part of their natural carbohydrate spectrum.

Cancer cells do use oxygen to metabolize sugar(glucose) to generate energy for their sustenance. They use anaerobic respiration i.e. glycolysis. Cancer still remains a prominent cause of mortality across the globe. Despite recent breakthroughs in the treatment strategies, the understanding of how cancer begins inside a cell remains elusive.

Traditional treatment pathways such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy and even surgery, although inevitable, are still falling short in effectively eradicating certain malignancies. In many cases, they aren’t fully able to restrict the disease progression, causing systemic toxicity which further can have its own complications.

However, we find ourselves in an interesting place where growing research is making us look at cancer in newer ways. For the first time, cancer is being considered as having metabolic irregularities as a major cause in addition to genetic aberrations. This might change the way we treat the disease in the coming days.

Cancer cells breathe differently

Interestingly, new age theories are observing some commonality among all cancers, the affected cells generate energy differently.

Cancer cells are not using oxygen to generate energy. Instead, they are fermenting glucose and glutamine (an amino acid found in the body) to fuel their growth. This impaired cellular respiration might be at the core of disease formation.

Dr Thomas Seyfried (a leading proponent of the metabolic theory of cancer) has gone ahead in saying that infected mitochondria (powerhouse of the cell) is the propeller of the disease and not the nucleus (where genetic material is stored inside a cell). It might be the kitchen of the cells that is calling the shots.

Starving cancer cells could be a way forward

Healthy human cells can use liver-generated ketone bodies for energy production in the absence of glucose. However, cancer cells are incapable of fermenting ketone bodies.

If tumors thrive on glucose and glutamine, removing these fermentable fuels can enable starvation of cancer cells. They can easily shrink or even disappear. On the flip side, chronically elevated blood glucose can contribute to the progression of the disease.

Growing research propagates the induction of a ‘calorie-restricted’ diet for both prevention and management of cancer.

It is being observed that therapeutic ketosis using carbohydrate-restricted diets alongside traditional treatments (chemotherapy, surgery et al) is showing clinically positive results in cancer patients. In my own office, I have seen similar experiences where my patients benefitted from a holistic approach to cancer treatment which included tailored low glycemic diets.

The standard treatment in form of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery are cytotoxic methodology; dietary interventions and Indian traditional medicine break the resistance of cancer cells and make them amenable to cytotoxic treatment simultaneously decreasing the adverse effects of cytotoxic treatment.

While aggressive keto diets can be a late-stage intervention, maintaining a moderately calorie-restricted diet can be adopted as a preventive measure against the rise of cancer.

Finding a middle path

Cancer researchers might have theoretical disagreements but most of them agree on the fact that there are multiple factors involved in conversion of a normal cell into a tumour. Hence, having a holistic approach to the treatment is the way forward.

While standard treatments like chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery are not replaceable, the systemic toxicity caused by these aggressive treatments is reduced as well as response to them is augmented using holistic approach with dietary intervention and Indian traditional medicine, under the supervision of skilled professionals.

Note: Conventional treatments like chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery are not replaceable, and must be continued as per the instruction of the supervising practitioner