Do Nut Butters Have High or Low Glycemic Indexes?

The glycemic index has been a hot topic for blood sugar management and general health. Knowing how food impacts your blood sugar can help you make more informed decisions to help you meet your health and nutrition goals. 

Nuts, seeds, and nut butters are considered healthy additions to your diet – but are they low on the glycemic index?

Nut butters generally have low glycemic indexes, which means they aren’t likely to spike your blood sugar levels.

In this article, we’ll explain why nut butters tend to have low glycemic indexes, as well as explain what the glycemic index is – in case you need a refresher course!

What is the glycemic index?

The glycemic index (GI) is a measurement tool that measures the extent that a single food affects your blood sugar levels. The scale for the glycemic index goes from 0-100, with pure glucose (the same type of sugar in your bloodstream – also called blood sugar) having a score of 100. 

Foods and drinks can be classified as low, medium, or high on the glycemic index scale depending on their nutrition stats. Here is how the categories for the glycemic index are broken down:

Low GI: 0-55

Medium GI: 56-69

High GI: 70-100

Which factors impact the glycemic index in nut butter?

Foods high in fat and fiber generally have lower glycemic indexes – but why? 

Fat and fiber take longer to digest compared to carbohydrates (carbs) like starch and sugars. This means they are digested and metabolized into blood sugar more slowly, which can lower the glycemic index. If a certain type of nut butter is lower in fat or fiber, it could potentially raise the glycemic index.

The main factor that can raise the glycemic index of nut butter is its sugar content. If nut butter has added sweeteners and is high in sugar, it can raise the glycemic index since these simple sweeteners spike blood sugar levels (and therefore the glycemic index).

Do nut butters have high or low glycemic indexes?

In general, nut butters have low glycemic indexes. 

We researched a total of 24 different types of nut and seed butters. We couldn’t find a reliable glycemic index for all of them (many only had the glycemic index available for the whole nuts or seeds, which is a bit different than the nut butter version).

To give you some perspective, here is a summary of the glycemic indexes (or estimated glycemic indexes) for different nut and seed butters. (As you’ll see, if we couldn’t find a reliable glycemic index score for a type of nut or seed butter, we provided the glycemic index for the whole nut or seed.)

Here’s a reminder of the glycemic index scale in terms of being low, medium, or high:

Low GI: 0-55

Medium GI: 56-69

High GI: 70-100

Nut/seed butter	Glycemic index
Almond butter	0
Brazil nut butter	Brazil nuts=10
Cashew butter	1 oz cashews= 25
Chia seed butter	30
Coconut butter	Low (exact GI unknown)
Flaxseed butter	Flaxseed=35
Granola butter	Unknown; likely medium due to added sugar
Hazelnut butter	Hazelnuts=0
High-protein nut butter (1st Phorm brand)	Unknown
Macadamia nut butter	Macadamia nuts=10
Mixed nut butter	Unknown due to a mix of different nuts/seeds; likely low
Nutella (flavored hazelnut butter)	Unknown (likely high due to added sugar content)
Peanut butter	Peanuts=14
Pecan butter	Pecans=10
Pine nut butter	Pine nuts=15
Pistachio butter	Pistachio nuts=15
Pumpkin seed butter	Pumpkin seeds=25
Reduced-fat peanut butter (Jif brand)	Unknown; likely low like regular peanut butter
Tahini (sesame seed butter)	40
Soy nut butter	Unknown; likely low
Sunflower seed butter (SunButter)	Sunflower seeds=35
Tiger nut butter	Unknown; likely low
Walnut butter	Walnuts=15
Watermelon seed butter	Unknown; likely low

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