Introduction
When it comes to peanut butter, it’s important to know what you’re getting. Unfortunately, some brands are made with low-quality ingredients that can be unhealthy and even dangerous. To help you make the best choice for your health, we’ve compiled a list of 7 peanut butter brands made with the lowest quality ingredients. From hydrogenated oils to added sugar, these brands are best avoided. Read on to learn more about the brands to avoid and the healthier alternatives you can choose instead.
7 Peanut Butter Brands Made with the Lowest Quality Ingredients
When it comes to peanut butter, not all brands are created equal. Some are made with the highest quality ingredients, while others are made with the lowest quality ingredients. If you’re looking for a healthier option, it’s important to know which brands to avoid. Here are 7 peanut butter brands made with the lowest quality ingredients.
1. Jif
Jif is one of the most popular brands of peanut butter, but it’s also one of the worst. It contains hydrogenated oils, which are unhealthy trans fats, as well as high fructose corn syrup and sugar. It also contains artificial flavors and colors.
2. Skippy
Skippy is another popular brand of peanut butter, but it’s also one of the worst. It contains hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and artificial flavors and colors. It also contains mono and diglycerides, which are unhealthy trans fats.
3. Peter Pan
Peter Pan is another popular brand of peanut butter, but it’s also one of the worst. It contains hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and artificial flavors and colors. It also contains mono and diglycerides, which are unhealthy trans fats.
4. Great Value
Great Value is a store brand of peanut butter, but it’s also one of the worst. It contains hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and artificial flavors and colors. It also contains mono and diglycerides, which are unhealthy trans fats.
5. Smucker’s
Smucker’s is another popular brand of peanut butter, but it’s also one of the worst. It contains hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and artificial flavors and colors. It also contains mono and diglycerides, which are unhealthy trans fats.
6. Kraft
Kraft is another popular brand of peanut butter, but it’s also one of the worst. It contains hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and artificial flavors and colors. It also contains mono and diglycerides, which are unhealthy trans fats.
7. Laura Scudder’s
Laura Scudder’s is another popular brand of peanut butter, but it’s also one of the worst. It contains hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and artificial flavors and colors. It also contains mono and diglycerides, which are unhealthy trans fats.
If you’re looking for a healthier option, it’s important to avoid these 7 peanut butter brands made with the lowest quality ingredients. Instead, opt for brands that are made with natural ingredients and no added sugar or artificial flavors and colors.
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Peanut butter is a staple food in many American homes and is enjoyed around much of the globe. It’s the anchor of the classic PB&J sandwich, it’s swirled into cakes and cookies, it finds its way into sauces and smoothies, and it’s all-around delicious. But not all peanut butters are created equal—and far too many are created with a lot of adjunct ingredients that are best left out of your body. Here’s how to steer clear of the lowest-quality peanut butter brands.
“A good peanut butter has two ingredients: peanuts and salt—that’s it,” says Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, FAND, an award-winning nutrition expert and Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Diabetes Create Your Plate Meal Prep Cookbook. She adds: “Oftentimes, you’ll find peanut butter combined with added sugar and various oils… you also want to watch for reduced-fat peanut butter, as they remove fat but replace it with sugar. And some of those added oils include palm oil, which according to the 2020-2025 dietary guideline, is categorized as saturated fat and should be limited.”
Keeping all that in mind, that sugars and oils and other added ingredients really have no place in high-quality peanut butter, let’s take a look at these 7 peanut butter brands made with low-quality stuff.
(Once you pick up a good jar, try out any one of the 30 Things You Can Make with Peanut Butter.)
The second ingredient in this Target brand peanut butter is sugar. “There is no need for sugar to be added to peanut butter which is done with the Target brand Good & Gather,” says Amidor. Note also the other ingredients, like hydrogenated vegetable oils, molasses, mono and diglycerides, and, finally, salt.
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Don’t let the word “Simply” in the name or the label’s advertised “Low Sodium, 33% Less Total Sugar” banner fool you: this is not a good peanut butter. It contains vegetable oils, molasses, and added sugar. And Mono- and diglycerides, added to preserve the shelf life, per Medical News Today.
Here’s yet another huge brand of peanut butter where the flagship product features added oils (in this case three: cottonseed, soybean, and rapeseed oils) and added sugar. Sure, a serving may have 7 grams of protein as the brand advertises, but it also has 16 grams of fat, including 3 grams of saturated fat.
Sure, Walmart’s brand Great Value may offer you a great value indeed in terms of the price of this peanut butter, but great ingredients? Hardly. It features added sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oils, dextrose, and monoglycerides. And salt and peanuts, of course, but we’re OK with those. Check out Great Value’s organic variety of peanut butter. It has just two ingredients—peanuts and salt—and stays surprisingly spreadable.
Yes, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are a nearly perfect candy, but when you eat those, it’s as a treat, not as a staple food. The brand’s peanut butter has no business as a staple of your diet either, being loaded with unwanted ingredients as it is, including the usual suspects: sugar-hydrogenated vegetable oil (in this case rapeseed, cottonseed, and soybean oils), monoglycerides, molasses, and corn starch.
Honey may be the first ingredient in this peanut butter’s name, but it’s the last ingredient listed on the label. And between the peanuts and the honey, you’ll find sugar, molasses, hydrogenated vegetable oils, salt, and sugar.
For again trying to name and brand a product as if it’s a better-for-you option, Jif makes the list twice. Jif Natural Creamy Peanut Butter is anything but a healthy, high-quality option and instead a reminder that the word “natural” has no real meaning when it comes to food labeling, unlike “organic,” which is a legally guarded term. The ingredients here are peanuts, sugar, palm oil, salt, and molasses.