Food Feature ~ Natural Peanut Butter

Natural peanut butter is better for you than other peanut butters.

The difference is that one is hydrogenated and the other is not.

Hydrogenated--means that it (oil) is heated and hydrogen bubbles are passed through it. 

Brands like Jiff, Peter Pan, etc. are hydrogenated. Therefore the peanut butter is smooth throughout, and the oil is evenly distributed throughout. It is more "processed" if you will. This is bad because it adds TRANS FAT. Trans fats are arguably one of the worst fats for your body.

Natural peanut butter is NOT hydrogenated. It's appearance is much different than that of hydrogenated peanut butter. All of the peanut oil rises and gathers on top of the butter. Unknowledgeable people might be wary of this because food that has a watery appearance is often thought of as being spoiled. But this is not true in this case.

Here is the important part. Under the "Nutrition Facts" on the food label of the hydrogenated peanut butter it reads "Trans Fat - 0g." On the un-hydrogenated peanut butter the Trans fat reads 0g. 

The trans fat on the hydrogenated peanut butter is NOT TRUE! The FDA doesn't put decimals, so technically it is 0.5g trans fat per serving but instead they put 0g. 0.5g of trans fat adds up over time.

The natural, un-hydrogenated peanut butter trans fat label reads TRUE - 0g! So that is why the natural peanut butter is better for you!

It's a little complicated to understand but now you know a little more about peanut butter and the way in which it is made. (And in case you were wondering, natural peanut butter tastes the same as hydrogenated peanut butter.)

This is one example of a brand that makes natural peanut butter.

Here is a link that explains more about hydrogenation.
http://www.treelight.com/health/nutrition/PartiallyHydrogenatedOils.html#pageToc1