It is an amazing tradition in India, particularly in the rural area where peanut is grown for decades, to eat a few pods of peanut after dinner every day. A healthy lifestyle with longevity is a result of many good food habits. The selection of groundnut (peanut) as post-meal topping food is not by accident but by choice. Peanut is a rich source of niacin which is known to help to convert food to energy. The digestive system, skin, and nerves also use niacin for its proper physiological functions. In addition to this, it is evidenced that dietary niacin may protect against Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline which is an ever-increasing disorder prevailing in the world.

Peanut is also an excellent source of Vitamin E (tocopherols + tocotrienols) which is commonly and prestigiously known as an antioxidant. Antioxidants are substances that can prevent or slow damage to cells caused by free radicals, unstable molecules that the body produces as a reaction to environmental and other pressures or stress. Vit E fights with these free radicals and prevent oxidative abrupt damage to cells and tissues. Vit E is also involved in immune function and regulation of certain metabolic processes.

Being an excellent treasure of Copper, the peanut is considered one of the best friends of the family so far as copper supply is concerned. Copper plays an important role in the production of key proteins in our body such as structural protein collagen.

Together with iron, it enables the body to form red blood cells that contain haemoglobin required for transports oxygen. Copper is required to maintain healthy bones, blood vessels, nerves, and immune function, and it also contributes to iron absorption.

These are some of the reasons why people used to take peanuts daily.