Research Director of The Peanut Institute Continues Legacy of George Washington Carver

She said peanuts and other fun and delicious foods that many believe are guilty pleasures are actually healthy and nutritious which boost both memory and the immune system. And, with more people adopting vegan foods as their lifestyle, she points to the benefits of plant-based foods for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.

“We do a lot of community work that focuses on how to reduce the risks of chronic diseases in Black rural areas” Sterling said. “So, we sponsor plant-based interventions and host cooking classes, health fairs and 12-week interventions to help people get control of their heath. At the same time, we stay in touch with the soul food flavors we love so much.

“We often hear criticisms of what African Americans eat – our culture and the health challenges faced within our community – and reasons why we need to change our diets. But at The Peanut Institute, we like to frame things more positively. The fact is when we talk about soul food and traditional African heritage food – if we go back to our ancestors – we see that they consumed a lot of plant foods.

“Grains, starches, vegetables and fruit were essential to their diets but things changed dramatically when Blacks were enslaved. We were forced to adapt to what was available – that was ingenious. The key today is to call us back to our traditional heritage.

“We are a communal people and we love our food – no one is saying to switch to eating bland food because we need our food seasoned. But we can make some changes: half a plate of fruit or vegetables; greens cooked not in fat back or ham hocks but smoked paprika; refraining from cooking vegetables so long that we cook out all of the nutrients; baking or air frying instead of frying. It’s about establishing a balance, preserving our culture while making nutritional changes,” Sterling said.

Sterling continues the legacy of George Washington Carver.

The work that Dr. George Washington Carver did is pivotal to what we are doing now,” she said. “Carver invented more than 200 uses for peanuts including for food and beauty items and a lot of his foundational work led to some of the ways we use peanuts today. And while he did not, as some incorrectly believe, invent peanut butter, he did lay the foundation for peanuts to be used in making products like chili sauce, glue, shampoo and shaving cream.”

Carver, born into slavery sometime in 1864, was an agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of products using peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans. As a youth, he took a keen interest in plants and eventually began to experiment with natural pesticides, fungicides and soil conditioners. He became known as the “the plant doctor” to local farmers in Iowa, where he earned multiple degrees, and Alabama, where he served as the head of the agriculture department at Tuskegee University (then Institute) where he taught for 47 years, because of his ability to discern how to improve the health of farmers’ gardens, fields and orchards.

Tackling peanut allergies .
Sterling said there’s significant confusion about peanut allergies including the percentage of Americans diagnosed with a peanut allergy and how to treat those with the allergy.

“A lot of people mistakenly believe that 20 to 30% of the population have peanut allergies but it’s actually more like 1 to 2%,” she said. “In Black children, we see a slightly elevated rate of peanut allergies, around 3%. But in 2015, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the LEAP study, determined that if we feed peanuts to children early in life, between four to six months of age, with complimentary foods, we can reduce peanut allergies by 86%.”

“In Black communities, where we have limited access to health care, it’s critical to look at preventive steps – to stop peanut allergies before they start. In various cultures where we see children introduced to peanuts early in life, the percentage of peanut allergies is almost neglible. The study also determined that with oral immune therapy, a pediatrician can help children build up a tolerance to peanuts, at least in small doses. So, it doesn’t have to be life threatening,” Sterling said.

For more information about peanut nutrition and related benefits like reducing heart disease, diabetes and cancer, and for healthy recipes, visit https://peanut-institute.com.