The other day, I received an email from a reader asking why her reduced-fat peanut butter scored lower than the regular version. She said she thought she was doing something healthy because she chose the reduced-fat option, so she didn’t understand why it received a lower NuVal score. Thanks to NuVal, you can read through those “reduced fat,” “low-fat,” and “no fat” labels to see what’s the most nutritious option for you.
Ok, let’s talk peanut butter.
The average reduced-fat version of peanut butter has 12 grams of fat per 2 tablespoons (versus 16 for the regular stuff), but it also contains more sugar and sodium– and only 10 fewer calories. Surprised? According to the NuVal scale, most full fat peanut butters score higher than the reduced-fat kind. Check out these scores:
Regular peanut butter:
- KREMA PEANUT BUTTER NATURAL SMOOTH & CREAMY: 51
- BRAD’S ORGANIC SMOOTH PEANUT BUTTER: 37
- TEDDIE ORGANIC ALL NATUREAL PEANUT BUTTER: 36
- POLANER REGULAR CRUNCHY: 34
Reduced-fat peanut butter:
- SMUCKER’S REDUCED FAT NATURAL STYLE PEANUT BUTTER: 26
- KROGER CREAMY REDUCED FAT PEANUT BUTTER 25% LESS: 25
- SKIPPY REDUCED-FAT PEANUT BUTTER: 18
- JIF REDUCED-FAT PEANUT BUTTER: 7
As you can see, reduced-fat peanut butter generally scores lower on the NuVal scale. Why? The fat in peanut butter is the healthy monounsaturated kind, so swapping it out for sugar and salt just doesn’t make sense from a health standpoint. When it comes to peanut butter, it’s more nutritious to choose the full fat variety.
As you can see, “reduced fat” isn’t necessarily synonymous with more nutritious. Foods can be low in fat, but high in sodium or sugar. Foods can be low in fat, but have very few positive nutrients (think fiber, calcium, vitamin D) that still benefit our health. Also, not all fat is bad.
Have you ever traded-up from a “reduced fat” or “low-fat” product for the regular variety?
Developed by an independent panel of nutrition and medical experts, the 
Thanks for posting this Tina! I lived in Europe for a few years and ate what would be considered a very fattening diet – meat, eggs, butter, full fat cheese and milk – in the States and my body [and health] completely changed for the better without any effort. We forget that in order for fat [or anything] to be removed – they have to fill it with something else, which is generally sugar [ie: with milk]. And that fat isn’t bad for us. [not all fat anyway]
Although, the BIGGEST difference is that everything here is full of corn syrup – which is disgusting. But that’s a different story…
This is great information, Tina. Thank you for sharing. It’s tough because for so long we were told that fats are bad and as long as you don’t eat any fat, you’ll be skinny. While I know that’s not the case, it’s definitely a transition mentally to enjoy healthy fats with my meals. But what better way to do that than with a Lara bar?!?
Again, thank you for reiterating this important info!
In college I used to eat low fat almost everything. I would always get low fat on. Now, I don’t or ever will cause the fat in my on was replaced with sugar. I’d rather have a little good for u fat than sugar. Thanks Nuval!