 "Photo: Chris Rosacker")
Sometimes the simplest foods are the best. A peanut butter sandwich, for example.
In addition to being easy to make and easy on the student budget, this classic childhood favorite has an extra health benefit - it's a complementary protein.
Before being able to appreciate the virtues of the peanut butter sandwich, it is important to know a few protein basics. All proteins are made of amino acids. Amino acids help regulate and maintain body health. There are 20 amino acids which are especially important in health, and proteins tend to be some combination of these proteins. Nine of these 20 amino acids are dubbed essential amino acids because the body cannot generate them. In other words, the only way to get these essential amino acids is by eating them.
Proteins are divided into two general categories based on whether or not they have all nine essential amino acids. Complete proteins, which are found in animal products such as meat, contain all the essential amino acids. Incomplete proteins, which tend to come from plant sources such as beans, do not.
Although peanut butter and bread on their own are incomplete proteins, they can be used as complementary proteins. According to Kaye Krogstrand, registered dietician and associate professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, complementary proteins are "two or more plant sources of protein which are deficient in one or more of the essential amino acids ... when combined, provide all of the essential amino acids in good amounts."
Peanut butter conveniently contains the amino acids lacking in bread, whereas bread contains the amino acids missing from peanut butter. Krogstrand said other examples of complementary proteins include beans and rice, a bean taco on a whole wheat or corn tortilla and split pea soup with sesame crackers.
As mentioned previously, a peanut butter sandwich also counts as complementary proteins. Although peanut butter tends to be calorie dense, peanuts are a good source of monounsaturated fats.
"Monounsaturated fats have been shown in research to be heart healthy by lowering LDL-cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and not affecting HDL-cholesterol (good cholesterol)," Krogstrand said.
When choosing a bread to be paired with your peanut butter, it is important to choose whole-wheat bread over white bread.
"Whole-wheat bread contains fiber and nutrients that are missing in white bread, which is refined," Krogstrand said.
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