The 9 Best Healthy Nut Butters To Spread On Everything, According To Nutritionists

How does your favorite stack up?

BY SARA FAYE GREEN AND KORIN MILLER FEB 21, 2020 on  www.womenshealthmag.com 

Remember when it seemed like peanut butter was pretty much your only option in the grocery store? Well, those days are looong gone. These days, the supermarket has practically half an aisle dedicated to all of the different nut butter options.

But in this brave new world of nut butters, how’s a girl to know which protein-packed staple to slather on her snack? Is there really a best nut butter?

“Ranking nut butters is like ranking veggies,” says dietitian Keri Glassman, RD. “They’re all good!”

In addition to supporting weight loss (as long as you exercise portion control), nuts can also help you ward off diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, she says.

Generally, nut butters provide a nice balance of healthy fats, protein, and fiber, as well as vitamins (like vitamin A, vitamin E, and B vitamins) and minerals (like iron, zinc, magnesium, and potassium), Glassman says.

Wondering about PB and sunflower seed butter? Butters made from seeds or legumes also offer legitimate benefits. (Just keep that added sugar as low as possible, of course.)

However, just as with veggies, certain nut (or seed or legume) butters might be better suited to your personal nutritional needs and fitness goals. That’s why I asked dietitians to rank the best nut butters in order of their nutritional one-two punch. Consider your next stroll through the grocery store as smooth as Skippy.

1. Almond Butter

From a nutritional perspective, almond butter just barely edges out your old pal PB.

“Almond butter is the highest in healthy fats, with about three grams more of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat per serving compared to peanut butter, » says Glassman. (It’s also slightly higher in nutrients like the antioxidant vitamin E.)

​​Find out how almonds can help you lose weight:

Almond butter is perfect slathered onto apple slices or celery and, thanks to its combo of protein, fiber, and healthy fats, makes an ideal post-workout snack.
However, since almond butter is significantly more expensive than peanut butter (and almonds require a lot of water to produce), feel free to mix up your nut butter game, Glassman says.

Per serving (2 tbsp): 196 calories, 17.8 g fat, 6 g carbs, 3.3 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 73 mg sodium, 7 g protein

2. Peanut Butter

There’s a reason this OG stands strong. Though not as high in healthy fats and vitamin E as almond butter, peanut butter is higher in protein, says Glassman.

It’s also got ample amounts of iron and folate to help prevent anemia, potassium for your muscles, magnesium for your bones and to help you sleep, and vitamin B6 and zinc for your immune system, she says.
Being around a long time also gives peanut butter the advantage of being the most-studied, and research has shown that eating peanut butter regularly can help decrease your risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Another perk: good ol’ PB is cheap.

Per serving (2 tbsp): 191 calories, 16.4 g fat, 7.1 g carbs, 1.6 g fiber, 3.4 g sugar, 136 mg sodium, 7.1 g protein

3. Pistachio Butter

Of all of the new nut butter options out there, pistachio butter is definitely one worth checking out—especially if you’re looking to up your protein intake.

“Protein is important since it helps build and repair muscle, and aids in mealtime satiety,” says Keri Gans, RD, dietitian and author of The Small Change Diet.
Pistachio butter is also “loaded with B vitamins that can help you turn calories into energy,” adds Scott Keatley, RD, dietitian and founder of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy.
It also just tastes really, really good. “It may be the tastiest of the nut butters, if you were to ask me,” Keatley says.

Per serving (2 tbsp): 180 calories, 13 g fat, 9 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 0 mg sodium, 6 g protein

4. Walnut Butter

In addition to a solid serving of protein, walnut butter also offers alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the omega-3 fatty acid found in plants. According to Keatley, ALA can help lower your risk of heart disease, lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, and reverse hardening of your blood vessels, so there’s that.

Walnut butter also offers nut butters’ usual heart-boosting properties. “It also provides heart-healthy monounsaturated fats and vitamin E, which both have anti-inflammatory properties,” Gans says.

Per serving (2 tbsp): 170 calories, 14 g fat, 11 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 7 g sugar, 0 mg sodium, 1 g fiber, 3 g protein

5. Sunflower Seed Butter (a.k.a. SunButter)

Up to 1.5 percent of Americans are allergic to peanuts and tree nuts (a number that has tripled since the 1990s), so alternative spreads for bananas and toast are a must these days.

“Sunflower seed butter is an excellent choice for anyone with a nut allergy or sensitivity,” Glassman says.

Sunflower seed butter is also high in vitamins E and A, which are awesome for glowing skin and bright eyes, she adds. Plus, it boasts more magnesium per serving than any other butter on the list, making it a powerful inflammation regulator and beauty-sleep supporter.

However, SunButter is higher in calories and slightly lower in protein than the other spreads on this list, so don’t go overboard when eating it.

Per serving (2 tbsp): 197 calories, 17.7 g fat, 7.5 g carbs, 8 g fiber, 3.4 g sugar, 106 mg sodium, 5.5 g protein

6. Hazelnut Butter

« For those with a peanut allergy, hazelnut butter can also be a good alternative,” says Gans. Hazelnut butter is rich in oleic acid, a form of monounsaturated fat that may help lower your risk risk of heart disease and stroke.

This unusual pick is also completely free of natural sugars and is another great source of vitamin E, Keatley adds.

Just make sure you’re reaching for true hazelnut butter—not chocolate hazelnut spread. (Let’s be real, Nutella is much more chocolate and sugar than actual hazelnuts.)

Per serving (2 tbsp): 160 calories, 14 g fat, 8 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 0 g sugar, 0 mg sodium, 5 g protein

7. Tahini

Made from sesame seeds, tahini is technically a seed butter—and it’s become a more and more popular pick in recent years.

Like many other butters on this list, tahini is a good source of the antioxidant vitamin E, Gans says.
Plus, according to Keatley, tahini contains “a ton” of copper, which helps play a role in making red blood cells. (If you really want to get the most out of tahini’s copper, though, don’t eat it with high-zinc foods—like meat or shellfish—since zinc and copper compete for absorption in the body.)

Per serving (2 tbsp): 70 calories, 6 g fat, 3 g carbs, 0 g fiber, 0 g sugar, 140 mg sodium, 2 g protein

8. Cashew Butter

“Cashew butter is naturally sweeter than many other nut butters,” says Glassman. If you’re working on lowering your added sugar intake without sacrificing your sweet tooth, it’s a good choice.

Thing is, it’s also lower in protein than most other nut, seed, and legume butters, she says. (Cashews are technically legumes.)
Plus, cashew butter is typically on the pricier side, so consider it an occasional sweet treat instead of your go-to for smoothies, cooking, or protein-packed snacks.

Per serving (2 tbsp): 195 calories, 17 g fat, 9.7 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 3 g sugar, 94 mg sodium, 3.9 g protein

9. Coconut Butter

Okay, coconut butter is technically a fruit butter—but still totally counts.

“Compared to other butters, coconut butter is one of the highest in fiber,” Gans says. (As you probably know by now, fiber is important for healthy blood sugar, a healthy heart, and a smoothly-running digestive tract.

Coconut butter also provides some protein, potassium, magnesium, and iron, Keatley says. It is, however, high in saturated fats, which may or may not be so great for you. (The jury is still out there.)
While you many not want to dive into coconut butter as often as almond or peanut butter, it still can be part of a healthy, balance diet. “Just go easy with your serving sizes,” Keatley says.

Per serving (2 tbsp): 200 calories, 18 g fat, 7 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 3 g sugar, 15.1 mg sodium, 2 g fiber

Solar Foods plans to sell 50m meals made from electricity, water and air

Solar Foods hopes wheat flour-like product will hit target in supermarkets within two years

Solar Foods’ protein-heavy substance can be added to dishes and food products as an ingredient. Photograph: Solar Foods

A Finnish company that makes food from electricity, water and air has said it plans to have 50m meals’ worth of its product sold in supermarkets within two years.

Solar Foods is also working with the European Space Agency to supply astronauts on a mission to Mars after devising a method it says creates a protein-heavy product that looks and tastes like wheat flour at a cost of €5 (£4.50) per kilo.

The Helsinki-based company, assisted by research from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the Lappeenranta University of Technology, will apply to the EU for a novel food licence later this year before starting commercial production in 2021.

The powder known as Solein can be given texture through 3D printing, or added to dishes and food products as an ingredient.

It is produced through a process similar to brewing beer. Living microbes are put in liquid and fed with carbon dioxide and hydrogen bubbles, which have been released from water through the application of electricity. The microbes create protein, which is then dried to make the powder.

Dr Pasi Vainikka, the chief executive of the tech startup, said the company had produced a carbon-neutral way to produce a fully natural protein source without wasting land or water. Pre-engineering on a full-scale factory had just started, he added.
“It is a completely new kind of food, a new kind of protein, different to all the food on the market today in how it is produced as it does not need agriculture or aquaculture,” he said.

The foodstuff was said to mark a break with a thousand years of production. “If we go back in time in the gatherer societies we have just been using more of the same, plants and animals,” he said.

Vainikka said he did not expect his product, which he described as the world’s most environmentally friendly protein, to challenge farmers in the next two decades but that it was a “new harvest for the people”. Three-quarters of the world’s calories originate from 12 plant and five animal species.

One quarter of the world’s carbon footprint is due to food production but the UN has said there needs to be an increase in food of 50-70% by the middle of the century.

Half of the world’s habitable land is used for farming and scientists claim the peak catch for the fishing industry, in terms of efficiency, was 20 years ago.

Vainikka said the powder could be an “ingredient like any ingredient in the food” or it would be possible to “make the powder into fibres that resemble meat or bread”.

 

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Solar foods use new proprietary technology to produce Solein. It requires long development time. For instance, It takes two weeks to produce 1gram of Solein in a coffee cup -bioreactors, the process is slow. To meet the market demand, they should be able to produce large quantities of Solein in less time. To do that they need to improve their production technology.

Solein protein powder « 100 times more climate-friendly » than other food

“The composition of Solein is nearly identical to that of soybeans or algae. It consists of about 50 percent of protein, 20–25 percent carbohydrates and 5–10 percent fat,” says Solar Foods CEO Pasi Vainikka. The difference, however, is that the production of one kilogram of Solein uses 250 times less water than the production of soy. When compared to beef the number grows to 1,550.