Usually, peanut and peanut butter consumption are associated with weight gain. However, a recent study found that a group of Hispanic middle school children who were at risk of being obese or overweight were able to reduce their Body Mass Index (BMI) by consuming a snack comprising peanuts!

The findings of the 12-week study undertaken jointly by scientists at the Department of Health and Human Performance (HHP) of University of Houston, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Woman's University were published recently in the Journal of Applied Research on Children, Science Daily reported.

The study admitted that people generally eat more snacks during their years and if the eating habit is unhealthy, it may result in unwanted weight gain. This is particularly true when a student doesn't eat other meals during his/ her school hours.

According to HHP professor Craig Johnston, currently obesity is among the most burning health issues worldwide and they believe that it is possible to prevent the problem. However, as of now, there is not much that can be done to prevent obesity and weight gain on a large-scale.  

Talking about his findings, Johnston said that several children skip meals for a variety of reasons. Usually, school going children return home at about 4.00 p.m. when parents are seldom home to supervise them. As a result, these children normally sit down to watch TV and keep eating various stuff, because they skipped food in school.

During the course of their study, the researchers worked with 257 Latino adolescents from three charter schools in the Houston area via a program that included physical activity as well as nutrition education. Half of these students were given a snack of peanuts or peanut butter thrice or four times a week while the remaining students were given snack less than once a week. The students received the snack just after school when they were about to board the school bus for home. In fact, the researchers opted for peanuts since these nuts are loaded with nutrients that promote a sense of fullness, the University of Houston reported.

At the end of the study, students spent an additional 12 weeks to maintain their healthy snacking habit. After the study, it was found that students ate snacks more regularly experienced a reduction in their overall BMI (-.7kg/m2), than those who did not eat the peanut snack regularly (-.3kg/m2). Researchers arrived at the conclusion that afterschool programs like the one undertaken by them and even schools help the students from becoming obese by replacing unhealthy snacks with healthier alternatives like peanuts, provided the students did not suffer from the allergy to peanuts.