High Oleic Acid Peanuts
Over Easter, Anne and I along with
Doug, Michelle, Liz and Brian from TSGS, visited a peanut farm in
Kingaroy as part of our visit to that area.
A representative from the Peanut
Company of Australia talked about the health benefits of the peanut
variety grown in the South Burnett that is high in Oleic acid and
Resveratrol but low in Linoleic acid. This was new information to me
as I previously had largely ignored this food item because of the
association of peanuts with quite severe food allergies in some
people.
Oleic acid (also found in olive oil)
is an interesting food component that has effects on reducing hunger,
decreases lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides) in the blood stream,
increases the oxidation of lipids and inhibits the action of a couple
of hormones that stimulate storage of fat around the abdomen.
Resveratrol (also found in grapes,
blueberries and dark chocolate) is a polyphenol
that inhibits the formation of new fat
cells, induces fat cells to die and has an anti-inflammatory effect
in arthritic joints. It also reduces cholesterol and makes the
signals in the brain work better about how much fat tissue is
present (obesity in part seems to be a signalling failure)
The other aspect that is important is
that the peanuts from this area are low in linoleic acid. This is an
ingredient that is becoming suspect as a trigger for obesity and is
mainly to be found in the seed oils such as canola, palm oil, cotton
seed oil and the like. Extra Virgin olive oil, butter and coconut
oil are low in this type of omega 6 fatty acid and peanuts from the
South Burnett also fall into this category.
As long as you do not have a peanut
allergy then eating some peanuts could be part of a healthy diet in
my opinion. They should be sourced from the South Burnett as this is
a particular variety that is grown there – imported peanuts are not
this variety as far as I am aware and are not high in oleic acid.
Peanuts need to be dry and should be kept refrigerated to prevent the
fatty acids being oxidised and becoming rancid. Roasted seems to be
ok but definitely not salted for other health reasons.
Anne and I are going to try and grow
some, however they are a warm season crop. In the meantime we are
going to try and locate a convenient source of supply.
Other things we did in Kingaroy was to
visit the Wondai Garden Expo – it was really good with lots of
plant stalls that had quite different items. The Maidenwell
Observatory was also good but the viewing was restricted because of
numbers present that night. We also visited a few wineries! Evenings
were spent playing cards and “sampling” the wine purchases. All
told the Easter trip was most enjoyable in the company of some fellow
TSGS members.
Refs:
pubmed:
1.Alves RD1, Moreira AP,
Macedo VS, et al Regular intake of high-oleic peanuts improves fat
oxidation and body composition in overweight/obese men pursuing a
energy-restricted diet.Obesity (Silver Spring). 2014 Mar 18.
2. Eseberri I, Lasa A,
Churruca I, Portillo MP. Resveratrol metabolites modify adipokine
expression and secretion in 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes and mature
adipocytes. PLoS One. 2013 May 22;8(5):e63918
