Daily iron on your dinner plate
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Iron Content of Peanuts

Peanuts contain 2.2 milligrams of iron per 100 grams. Grams is a measure of weight. To put 100 grams in perspective, consider alternative measures for this food:

  • 1 oz equals 28 grams.
  • 1 peanut equals 1 grams.

In the category of beans, we excluded protein isolates and other processed foods from the Top 10 list and include only whole beans. You can assume that if the whole version made the top 10 list, so too wouldThe food tested for the particular graph below can be described more specifically as:

Peanuts, all types, dry-roasted, with salt

Read more about iron in beans or visit our iron-rich foods list.

Peanuts And Iron

Peanuts do contain a good bit of iron. Twenty-five peanuts provide 3-4% of the daily iron requirement of a woman aged twenty to forty. However, peanuts are also quite high in an iron inhibiting substance called phytic acid that keeps you from absorbing as much iron in those peanuts as you would have should the phytic acid been reduced. In the Iron Rich Foods book we discuss a preparation method to reduce the phytic acid in nuts, but peanuts may not respond as well to the process. If you rely on nuts for your iron, likely a different nut would be a better option.

To learn more about the iron content of your favorite foods, use the search function on this website to explore the thousands of foods from the database maintained by the USDA.