Almond butter or peanut butter? Which one of the two is going to be better for you? There are certainly major health benefits to both, but when you get the choice, you want to have the best one, right?
We’re bringing you the ultimate face-off. It’s almond butter vs. peanut butter, and we’ll give you the very best of the two based on the health facts. Strap yourself in and be ready to make a choice.
Isn’t a Nut Butter Like Any Other?
I know what you’re thinking right now. You believe that one nut butter is just like all the rest. To be honest, both almond and peanut butter do have some similarities. They’re both made with nuts, and they both have a buttery texture. They’re full of protein and selenium, along with various healthy fats.
If you created a recipe that called for one, you could likely substitute it with the other. The taste and texture aren’t that different.
However, while there are some nutritional similarities, there are also differences. One butter is not the same as the other. In fact, almond butter has been noted as the better of the two and the one to buy when you do have the choice. Here’s a look at the differences, so you can see just which one will work out better for you.
Protect Your Cells Better with Almond Butter
Let’s start with the vitamin E levels in the two kinds of butter. While peanut butter does have some, almond is far more superior. You need vitamin E in your diet.
Usually considered a necessity for good skin, vitamin E is also important for good cell structure. It’s one of those antioxidants that will help to prevent cells from deteriorating and growing abnormally. It helps to fight against cancer, dementia, and other major health problems.
Vitamin E works by protecting the cells from oxidative stress. Thisis commonly caused by free radicals in the body. The vitamin E in almond butter will kill off the free radicals, so they don’t have the chance to oxidize the cell structure and proteins within the body, meaning that your cells are not even at risk. There are some studies that show vitamin E can also help to slow down or prevent further damage that has already occurred.
The vitamin is also important to help improve your artery health. Plaque builds up in the arteries without the support of vitamin E in the system. The plaque build up means the arteries narrow, and that puts you at a higher risk of having a heart attack.
Why is almond butter so good? Well, there’s 4mg in every tablespoon of almond butter. You only get 1mg in peanut butter, so you’re getting four times the amount! In fact, the 4mg per tbsp is 27% of your recommended daily amount of vitamin E.
The clear winner, in this case, is the almond butter, but if you can’t get it then you’re not going to ruin efforts by eating peanut butter!
Protect Your Bone and Teeth Health
Calcium is an essential nutrient for the body. It’s something that we can’t create, so we need to get it through our food and drink as much as possible. Of course, milk and other dairy products are considered by most as the only source of calcium. There’s a reason for this: it’s been the source that doctors and experts focus on the most.
However, nuts are also a good source of calcium. Almonds in particularly beneficial. Yes, almond butter will win for your health again because of the amount of calcium that you will get.
Calcium helps to create strong bones and teeth. It helps to protect against osteoporosis and brittle bones and will help to avoid tooth damage—as long as you look after your teeth in other ways, too!
There are other ways to get the calcium that your body needs. Dark leafy greens are extremely high in calcium. If you want to choose peanut butter, you can find other ways to benefit. However, almond butter will give you more of your daily recommended allowance in one sitting.
Improve the Red Blood Cell Count
Did you know that nut butter can help to boost your red blood cell count? It’s the red blood cells that help to get the oxygen around the body and eliminate the feeling of fatigue. To get red blood cells, you need to get iron, which is where nuts are useful.
Iron is also important for reducing oxidative damage in your body. It works with the vitamin E to protect the cells and ensure the body is healthy and working efficiently.
So, which type of nut butter is better? Almond butter has double the amount of iron than peanut butter does. As a woman, you get 3% of your daily recommended allowance from peanut butter alone.
Because of the small level, it may not be worth the battle between the two. You can opt for much better sources for your iron. Dark leafy greens and red meat both have abundant amounts of iron compared to nut butter! But in this case, almond butter wins.
Protect Your Nervous System
Your nervous system needs you to get a good and healthy diet. It needs magnesium from your diet to be able to work effectively. When your nervous system is working properly, it will help the muscles contract properly without spasms, helping to reduce pain and inflammation. You will also find that your pain receptors aren’t affected as often.
Magnesium also helps to support your metabolism. When you have an effective metabolism, you will find weight fluctuations stick to a minimum. You can lose weight or gain it (depending on your health needs) and will have sustained energy levels throughout the day.
Which nut butter is the best? In this case, almond butter wins again. There are 45mg of magnesium in a tbsp of almond butter, compared to just 23mg in peanut butter. That means you’ll get 14% of your daily magnesium intake as a woman from your almond butter.
This is a much higher amount than the iron levels and something worth taking seriously.
Improve Your Digestive System with Fibre
Now you need to focus on your digestive system. Fiber is the one food group that you need. It’s the macronutrient that will help to line your intestines to prevent damage. It removes waste, pushing it through your body and helping to break it down, so it is easier to push through. Good levels of fiber will also help you to keep your cholesterol levels down.
Fibre has also been linked to good weight loss diets. The macronutrient breaks down slowly in the body. That means you digest it slowly and you will still feel full hours later. You also feel full faster, because your stomach can’t handle as much, so you eat less on your plate. Consuming less in a meal means that you consume fewer calories, making it an excellent weight loss tool.
Nuts have plenty of fiber. However, almond butter wins once again. You’ll get around a gram of fiber in a tbsp of almond butter, and barely a gram of it in peanut butter.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. Not everyone can consume large amounts of fiber. They have stomach issues that make high levels of fiber painful rather than helpful. If that’s the case, you could find that the lower levels in peanut butter are better for your body.
Remember when your digestive system is working efficiently, you’ll be able to absorb more nutrients into your body. Even if you did get more nutrients through almond butter, if the fiber causes your intestines to play up you won’t get the benefit of all those nutrients! So, this will depend on your body as a whole.
Get the Best Selenium Levels
One of the most common nutrients we’re deficient in is selenium. This is one of those nutrients that tend to be missing from food, which is why we’re deficient in it. We need to make sure we get the right foods in our diets. This is where nut butter come into play.
Selenium helps to protect the function and creation of your enzymes. If you feel tired and fatigued, you may not have an iron deficiency but a selenium one!
Nuts are one of the best sources of selenium levels. Taking the nut butter out of the equation, the Brazil nut is the best one to eat. It has your daily recommended amount of selenium in just one nut! Yes, one nut and you’re covered.
If you’re not into Brazil nuts and want to choose a nut butter to get the benefits for you, then you’ll want to turn to peanut butter. For the first time in this list, this peanut butter is better than almond butter!
Build Stronger Muscles with the Right Nut Butter
We all know that nuts are full of protein. However, did you know that there is one winner between peanut and almond butter? Nut butter have a benefit over many other sources of protein. It’s a vegetable protein, which means there is less saturated fat involved, even when you have the nut in butter form!
Protein is essential for the body to create strong muscles. When you do any workout, your muscles will breakdown to build up stronger. If you don’t have enough proteins, the muscles will start to waste away, and you won’t be as strong or lean as you should be.
Good levels of toned muscle are also good for weight loss and an overall healthy diet. Muscle burns more calories than fat in the same period. If you start losing muscle, your metabolism will slow down. You don’t know about this until you start gaining weight!
Peanut butter has a slight lead when it comes to protein. It has 7.1g in a serving, compared to 6.7g of protein in almond butter. If you want to compare this with other foods that are high in protein, a large egg only has around 6g of protein. Either way, you’re going to get more by opting for a type of nut butter but if you want higher levels, opt for peanut.
Almond Butter vs. Peanut Butter: The Ties
There are times that the two types of butter are just the same. They offer the same or very small differences in micro and macronutrients.
Let’s start with the carbohydrates and fats. Both of the nutbutterhas both these macronutrients. They have healthy fats more than the saturated fats, although all fats get an unfairly bad reputation. You need some fat in a good and healthy diet. Just a normal serving of either almond or peanut butter daily will give you most of the healthy fats you need. A few carbs are almost negligible.
The most important thing to look at is the sugar in the two nutbutter. Sugar is the main cause of health problems and weight gain. When you put too much-refined sugar into the diet, the body metabolizes it as blood sugar. This sets off a response from the pancreas to release insulin. Too much sugar can lead to Type II diabetes.
When your body releases insulin, your metabolism has to work on the blood sugar. It will put the calories that you gain from the food to one side for use later and then forget about those calories. You end up gaining weight because your metabolism can’t work effectively.
So, which nut butter is better for you? This is where the jury is out. It depends on the type of each of the nut butter that you buy. Organic almond butter is supposed to be better for you, but there are companies adding sugar to their products. You’ll want to check the labels of any product that you decide to compare them side by side.
It’s Time to Make a Choice
Overall, almond butter comes across as the winner. However, this will depend on the nutrients that you’re deficient in and what you want to gain from your diet. While the fiber and iron contents are higher in almond butter, the protein and selenium contents are higher in peanut butter.
What is for certain is that both are good as part of a healthy and balanced diet. They both have similar textures and can be substituted for each other. It could be worth alternating between the two and deciding which one you prefer the taste of the most.
