These peanut butter brands are the WORST!
While flavor is undoubtedly important, it’s also crucial to consider the brand’s nutritional qualities when rating the worst peanut butter brands on the market. Even though peanut butter is a straightforward, nutritious meal produced from chopped peanuts, it contains many extraneous ingredients, including sugar, salt, and hydrogenated oils, which are added to improve flavor, texture, and shelf life.
Making wise dietary decisions is crucial given the concerning rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in the United States. Limiting processed and sugary food intake is a good place to start when treating these conditions, and peanut butter is a simple solution. Next time you go shopping, carefully examine the ingredients and select the one with the fewest ingredients.
1. Peanut Butter and Co. (Smooth Operator)
We begin our list with one of the worst peanut butter brands on the market, which is Peanut Butter and Co. Smooth Operator. Why? Well, let’s see. It has a long list of iffy components, including a lot of sugar, salt, and palm oil. First and foremost, steer clear of anything that contains palm oil.
Worldwide, one of the main causes of deforestation is the collection of palm oil. And for what purpose? To make things easier, the peanut butter doesn’t separate because of the palm oil. And then salt and sugar are just as unnecessary.
2. Skippy (Natural Peanut Butter Spread with Honey)
Another unhealthy choice of peanut butter is the one from Skippy, the version that contains honey. Why buy something that supposedly contains “honey” and is sweeter than it should be when you can buy regular peanut butter without any additives and then put some honey on top of it?
3. Jif (Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter)
Uhm…no! If the two mentioned before are among the unhealthiest peanut butter brands on the market, wait for the one from Jif to be uncovered. This butter is full of salt, corn syrup, molasses, rapeseed, soybean oils, and a few other minerals and vitamins.
It doesn’t sound that bad at first sight, yet the content is low compared to the amount of sugar and salt this peanut butter has.
4. Trader Joe’s Salted Peanut Butter
The extra salt is the sole reason Trader Joe’s peanut butter made our list. As you probably know excess salt can cause various serious health issues so it’s better to avoid it completely or reduce the intake. The United States is ranked second globally, while China has the greatest salt intake per person.
So, don’t worry your peanut butter won’t have a good taste without added salt! You can combine it with apple slices for a bit of extra sweetness without any artificial flavor.
5. Smucker’s Goober Grape
How many of you were eating peanut butter from Goober? I used to love it back in the day mostly because the word “goober” it’s another word for peanuts in the Southern part of the country. But consuming it as food? I think I’ll pass. Why? Simply the presence of high fructose corn syrup.
For example, in Europe, potassium sorbate, a mold and yeast suppressor, is subject to strict regulations. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States considers potassium sorbate to be generally safe. So whenever you see this ingredient (also known as preservative) on the list put the product back on the shelf where it belongs.
Be a wise shopper and carefully read the label before buying this peanut butter brand.
6. Great Value Peanut Butter
I bet you ate plenty of products from Great Value under the Walmart signature. And that’s fine; I did that too. But the thing is, even if they’re very affordable compared to other brand-name products, they’re not so nutritional. This time, I will talk about one of the worst peanut butter brands.
This brand is the epitome of the worst peanut butter ever created. Extra sweetened? Verify. Hydrogenated fats? Yes. Salt? That too. It is a reasonable substitute, costing less than $2.00 for 16 ounces, but is it a fantastic value? Not so much.
With so many bad peanut butter brands mentioned here, you’re probably wondering which ones are the best, according to nutritionists. Well, I got you! Besides being a super easy food to eat on the go, as a snack, or even for a fulfilling breakfast, high-quality peanut butter should also be a great source of protein and healthy fats and be low in sugar and salt.
One of the best recommendations is NAKED Organic Peanut Butter and NAKED CRUNCH Organic Peanut Butter (2-pack combo). It doesn’t contain sugar or salt; it’s gluten-free, and for 2 tablespoons, you will get 7 grams of protein. Order yours from Amazon by clicking on the link.
You may also be interested in reading: 9 Awesome Secrets to Living Frugally without Appearing Cheap.
