It sounds nuts, but one snack may help you live longer.
Telomeres — the caps at the ends of your chromosomes — get shorter as you age, and that shortening can contribute to age-related diseases like cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart issues.
But your diet can have an impact on telomere length, and a new study has pinpointed one specific food that can make a difference, slowing down your body’s aging process.
Oddly enough, though, another popular snack made from this food didn’t have the same positive impact.
Publishing in the journal Antioxidants, a team of researchers in Spain explored how telomeres were affected by a daily dose of peanuts or peanut butter.
Antioxidants have been shown to fight telomere shortening, so it would make sense peanuts — a rich source of antioxidants like vitamin E, niacin and polyphenols like resveratrol — would help.
Researchers believe peanuts have the power to neutralize reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reduce inflammation, two qualities that could go a long way in preserving telomere length.
It would also stand to reason that peanut butter — made from grounded up peanuts and other ingredients — would have the safe effect. But that didn’t turn out to be the case.
In the study, 58 participants were divided into three groups: the first received 25g of skin-roasted peanuts per day, the second consumed 32g of peanut butter, and the third received 32 g/day of a control butter made from peanut oil (CB).
They were instructed to avoid other nuts, grapes, dark chocolate and wine during the trial.
Those who ate peanuts showed a significant increase in telomere length after three months. None of them had accelerated telomere shortening.
But peanut butter eaters did not have the same results. There was no increase in telomere length, and 22% did have accelerated telomere shortening.
These results suggest that daily consumption of skin-roasted peanuts may slow telomere shortening in young, healthy adults.
So why did the peanuts give a boost — but the PB didn’t?
The study authors believe that, unlike processed peanut butter, whole peanuts may support gut microbiota-derived short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which have been linked to lower cortisol and depression biomarkers in the same trial.
“These findings highlight the importance of whole foods over processed alternatives in promoting cellular health,” the authors noted.
One population that won’t be partaking in the peanuts? The more than six million Americans who have a peanut allergy.
The research team notes that there are several limitations to their study, including a small, age-specific sample size and a lack of a peanut-free control group.
Further, telomere deterioration is a slow process, and while the 6-month study proved illuminating, longer-term research is called for to confirm these findings.
Previous studies have found that consuming nuts like peanuts can lead to reduced abdominal fat and insulin levels.
However, consumers who are looking to lengthen both their telomeres and their lifespan should check their food labels.
In a TikTok posted last year, one savvy consumer noted that the simple-sounding product Planters Dry Roasted Salted Peanuts contains added ingredients like sugar, cornstarch, corn syrup, peanut oil, fructose and xanthan gum.
