Bad Dietitian: I Eat Regular Peanut Butter. Here's Why.

Am I a bad dietitian because I don’t eat “Natural” peanut butter? I’ve been a regular old Jif girl since I was a kid. It’s still what I eat as a 50-something woman. But I keep seeing tips from nutrition experts telling me I should eat natural peanut butter because it’s lower in fat, saturated fat, and added sugars. Regular peanut butters add oil and sugar - but is it enough to matter? I did some sleuthing before giving up my beloved Jif.

I picked out several peanut butters whose labels suggested they might be healthier than regular peanut butter. Then I compared them to the giant jar of Jif I keep at work.  I focused on their calories, total fat, saturated fat, total sugar, added sugar, protein, sodium, and fiber. None of them had any trans fats because partially hydrogenated fats are no longer allowed in foods.They all had the same amount of calories except the Peter Pan Simply Ground that was 20 calories higher than the others. All had the same fat and saturated fat. 

Peanuts have some natural sugar in them so they all had some sugar. The added sugar number shows you how much the producer added. The only one that had a significant amount of added sugar was the Peter Pan Simply ground at 6 grams (1 ½ teaspoons). The others  had 2 grams of added sugar, which is about half a teaspoon. Smucker’s Natural was the most natural – with only ground peanuts and a little salt added so it had no added sugar. But when you look at total sugars, Smucker's only wins by a gram. 

All were reasonable in sodium when you consider that daily value is 2300 or fewer a day. So Jif’s 140 mg only represents 6% of your daily sodium limit. All were the same in protein – except Smucker’s Natural that edged out the others by on gram.

So the bottom line is that most peanut butters are pretty similar in their nutrition. Read the labels to compare. As you can see from my analysis here, Peter Pan "Simply Ground" sounds super healthy but was the highest in calories and added sugar. Natural peanut butters may have slightly less added sugar, sodium, and saturated fat. But the difference is slight. So unless you really like the way they taste, stick with what you like.  Some, like Peter Pan Simply Ground, give you the impression that they’re healthier when they’re not! So I’m sticking with my Jif. 

Beth Kitchin PhD RDN

Assistant Professor, Nutrition Sciences

University of Alabama at Birmingham