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This paper reviews the nutritional profile of peanuts and summarises recent evidence for their potential as a beneficial food for long‐term health. As such, a more constructive positioning for peanuts and peanut butter within the UK diet is proposed.

This paper summarises recent evidence and consider a more constructive positioning for peanuts and peanut butter within the UK diet. It also briefly discusses the protective role that peanuts may have against certain diseases. The beneficial effects of peanuts in the prevention of coronary heart disease are discussed in detail.

To provide an overview of recent research that collectively demonstrates the potential for peanuts as an aid to weight management.

Research on nuts and their effects on health has been plentiful in recent years. This short literature review focuses principally on that research relevant to peanuts.

Epidemiological and intervention studies have provided useful information on the beneficial effects of nuts, including peanuts in relation to weight management and obesity. This has served to overturn the perception that peanuts, due to their fat content, should not be included in weight loss diets. Furthermore, that, for effective weight management, a moderate fat diet, that includes peanuts, may be more effective for both cardiovascular health and weight management.

More definitive research to directly assess the effects of peanuts on energy balance and body weight is recommended to ascertain optimal quantities of peanuts that can be included in diets for both weight loss and weight maintenance. Plausible explanations for the absence of expected weight gain with regular nut consumption are reported and further research to explore these theories will be reassuring.

Inclusion of daily 1oz(30g) handfuls of peanuts within a moderate fat diet can be recommended as a useful means not only to improve diet quality but also to assist with weight management, due to their satiating effects.

This paper will be useful to health professionals and educators by highlighting how a convenient snack food, peanuts can play a beneficial role within a healthy diet for both cardiovascular protection and weight management.

The Health Education Trust (HET) was created to promote the development of health education for young people in the UK through work with young adults and children to encourage the growth of healthy lifestyles. This paper reviews the work of the HET Web site, www.healthedtrust.com The Trust has recently developed its Web site with the aim of facilitating easy access to practical information, policy updates, research news and examples of good practice for all who are interested and concerned about young people's health issues. Through utilising the Web site it is hoped that beneficial information and ideas will be spread more quickly and put into practice elsewhere, thus enabling swifter progress towards healthier lifestyles for our children. This paper describes current Web site activities, which in themselves, provide a keyhole through to exploring the rapidly evolving field of activities, both central and national, all geared towards addressing the health and wellbeing of young people today and for tomorrow. The paper will be useful to any professionals who have a role to play, or an interest, perhaps as a parent, in the area of nutrition and lifestyle education for young people. The more information available and general “noise” relating to good nutrition, healthy lifestyles and the practical means to achieving these, the more likely we are to achieve better health for future generations.

The 2006 UK Government's school food standards has created an opportunity for schools to consider introducing highly nutritious, convenience snack alternatives, such as dried fruit, nuts and seeds. This has created anxiety among those who fear a consequent increase in incidence of allergic reactions in schools. The purpose of this paper is to present a controlled approach to secondary school vending, designed to minimise the risks of allergic reaction.

A consultation process with key organisations, together with an analysis of the vending process in schools has underpinned this work. The Health Education Trust, with experience of developing food and medicines policies in schools, has explored a practical solution to the common assumption that a nut ban in schools is the only way to offer protection to those students at risk.

A best practice guidance tool for “allergy‐aware” vending has been developed. It provides a framework for a common sense approach to tackling two potentially conflicting issues, identifying vending as a practical solution.

The toolkit is a free download, ready for pilot testing in secondary schools. This mutually beneficial approach to minimising risk is presented as a working draft. Revisions will be made following feedback from schools. This toolkit is not suitable for use in primary schools.

Achieving healthy eating goals for the teenage school population and safeguarding those pupils who have serious food allergies are important issues that merit mutual consideration. This paper explores the issues and proposes, for the first time a best practice guidance to both minimise risks and maximise health benefit.