By Associated Press
Huntsville, AL – Researchers at Alabama A&M University say boiled peanuts are healthier to eat than raw, dry or oil-roasted. A new study said boiling the tasty nut can bring out four times more healthy phytochemicals.
The study's co-author, Lloyd Walker, chair of Alabama A&M's Department of Food and Animal Sciences, said phytochemicals have antioxidant qualities that protect cells against the risk of degenerative diseases, including cancers, diabetes and heart disease.
The study will appear in Wednesday's edition of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
The other co-authors are A&M researchers Yvonne Chukwumah and Martha Verghese as well as University of Alabama in Huntsville researcher Bernhard Vogler.
Walker said peanuts and other plants use phytochemicals for things such as helping avoid disease and insect attacks.
Alabama ranks third in the nation in the amount of peanuts produced.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)