Peanuts are legumes, not nuts, so generally they are not considered paleo. You can read about why this is here, in this excellent article:

http://whole9life.com/2009/12/peanut-manifesto/

Excerpt:

It’s not the ingredients in the peanut butter we don’t like, it’s the peanuts themselves. When peanuts grow, they can harbor carcinogenic mold called an “aflatoxin“. This goes for conventional and organic peanuts. The longer they sit (during shipping, for example), especially in warm temperatures and high humidity, the more mold grows. And as it’s nearly impossible to buy peanuts “local”, as they are only grown in a few Southern locations, more likely than not that even your organic peanuts are suspect.

The far bigger concern, however, is that peanuts contain lectins which are believed to have inflammatory and atherogenic potential. Most plants contain lectins, some of which are toxic, inflammatory, or both. Many of these lectins are resistant to cooking and to digestive enzymes, and some have been scientifically shown to have significant GI toxicity in humans. Lectins from grains (especially wheat) and legumes (including peanuts and soybeans) are most commonly associated with aggravation of inflammatory and digestive diseases in the body. (As an aside, dairy from cows fed grain-based diets can also contain these grain-derived lectins.)

One pro: tasty :) I'll admit that as my favourite food, it's my one regular cheat -- either out of the jar from the fridge or combined with coconut or palm oil for 'fudge'. I buy the creamy, organic Whole Foods brand, with only added salt and palm oil.

Not paleo though. Just tasty and a reasonable cheat treat imho.

Some peanut butter brands have a horrendous ingredient list. To give the benefit of the doubt, we'll assume here that you are referring to peanut butter with only one single ingredient: peanuts

Pros:

• tastes good

• contain resveratrol and several important minerals

• decent protein content

Cons:

• peanuts are legumes, high in phytic acid and antinutrients (counterbalancing much of their mineral content)

• 30-35% of the fat content is omega6 polyunsaturated

• related to above bullet point, if the peanuts are roasted, the fats are certainly damaged. This is NOT GOOD.

• many peanuts contain high levels of aflatoxins

• many humans are severely allergic to peanuts for a reason

• 'toxic' lectins (virtually all foods have lectins, but legumes are higher in the more damaging kind of lectins)

My personal take: I eat almonds/almond butter instead (somewhere in between moderation and modesty). Simply put, there are just too many reasons to not eat peanut butter that overwhelm the reasons to eat it.

Most of it is contaminated with aflatoxins, so I avoid it. Even if that weren't the case, I avoid foods that are pulverized and reconstituted; I'll leave that up to my teeth and GI tract.

I remember Rami Nagel, he of the book on how to heal cavities naturally, said that peanut butter was nothing more than a junk food thanks to all the phytic acid (it decreases nutrient uptake). But that's something that WAPF followers seem to be far more concerned about than paleo followers, since all nuts and seeds contain physic acid. Aside from the lectins, though, peanuts seem to have a really high level of physic acid, meaning they will decrease the calcium, vitamin d (and other minerals and vits I forget!!) uptake from the foods you eat with it.

Phytic acid is a strong chelate -- a molecule that essentially wraps around and cages charged minerals. In this case, phytic acid chelates, and therefore precludes from absorption, zinc, iron, magnesium, and calcium. It's chelate activity functions over a wide pH range, so the high pH of the duodenum and low pH of the stomach fail to significantly inhibit its impact on your absorption of healthy metal ions.

Someone else mentioned aflatoxin. Big time carcinogen.

On the other hand, it's yummy. So is beef. Go make yourself a hamburge, and you'll forget all about peanut butter cravings!

In the big picture, a little from time to time won't hurt you at all. If you get the kind with the fewest ingredients you're probably going to be ok if you don't partake more than once/week or something like that.

depends what you want? it does have a high calorie content but for gym users wanting to bulk this is what you want. As long as you get the organic stuff the high fat content is mono and polyunsaturated fats which are good for you plus plenty of vitamins such as b3 and niacin and minerals. including a high protein content, if you stick with organic and in moderation it is very beneficial!

Crap. My daughter eats a lot of this. I have tried to get her to try other butters. Not the same. This is what I will do: take all of the peanut butter in the house/pantry and put it in a huge bowl. Add 1/3 of that amount of coconut oil and that same amount of grass-fed butter and a little himalayan salt. This should be better. I'll make her combine it all until blended. :D