Boiled Peanuts Nutritional Value

According the American Peanut Council, six pounds of peanuts and their products are consumed by a person each year. Because of their nutritional benefit and low cost, they are very popular. Boiled peanuts have a high amount of vitamins and minerals and a healthy amount of protein. They also have a high amount of fat, but the good fat (unsaturated) outweighs the bad fat.

Types

• According to aboutpeanuts.com, there are four main types of peanuts. Runners are a dominant peanut on the market today, with 54 percent of them being used in peanut butter. Virginia peanuts are mainly roasted in the shell. Spanish peanuts have more oil in them than the other peanuts, and are used mainly for candies. Valencias are often boiled due to their higher sweetness, or they are roasted and sold in the shell, similar to the Virginias. The different types of peanuts vary in nutritional value, but the difference isn't significant. All of the peanuts are used for boiling, but the Valencias are the type boiled most often.

Calories

• According to NutritionData.com, one cup of salted boiled peanuts (includes all types of peanuts) gives you 200 calories, which is 10 percent of your daily calories needs if you are on a 2,000-calorie diet. 54.8 of the calories come from carbohydrates, 116 are from fat, and 29.5 of them are from protein. A cup has 21 percent of your daily fat needs, making the majority of calories come from fat. A little less than half of it is saturated fat. Calories from protein account for 17 percent of your daily protein need, and carbohydrate calories account for 4 percent of your daily carbohydrate need.

Vitamins and Minerals

• According to NutritionData.com, one cup of boiled peanuts has several vitamins and minerals within a 2,000-calorie diet. It has 13 percent of your vitamin E needs for the day, 11 percent thiamin (vitamin B1), 17 percent vitamin B6, and 12 percent of your folate needs. A cup of boiled peanuts also has 16 percent of your magnesium needs, 12 percent phosphorous, 20 percent sodium, 16 percent copper and 32 percent of your manganese needs. Each component contributes to the body's well-being and function, from the antioxidant properties of vitamin E to the nervous and immune system support provided by vitamin B6.

Other Benefits

• Boiled peanuts offer benefits other than vitamins and minerals. According to NutritionData.com, they are also a good source of fiber. One cup of boiled peanuts has 6 g of fiber, which is 22 percent of the daily need for a 2-000-calorie diet. Another benefit is that boiled peanuts do not have any cholesterol. They are a nutrient-dense food and have a 2.4 out of 5 for fullness on the NutritionData.com's Nutritional Target Map. This map shows you how full and nutritious a food is. A 2.4 means that boiled peanuts are satiating, but will not make you feel overly full.

Complementary Profile

• Proteins in food don't always have all of the amino acids needed to make a whole protein, therefore you can eat complementary foods (foods with the other amino acids) with them to help make a protein complete. According to NutritionData.com, some examples of complementary foods for boiled peanuts are chicken, ham and cheese loaf, Thousand Island dressing, mozzarella, mushrooms and chorizo.