Saturday, July 13, 2024

Can I Have Butter Again?

Several popular fad diets are spreading the idea that saturated fats are not harmful and butter is a perfectly fine food to be included in your diet every day, if not every meal.

Is this a good idea? In a word, no! The idea that saturated fats are harmless is not based on solid nutrition research.

The nutrition literature has always shown, and continues to show, that saturated fat increases risk of heart disease and stroke, especially when compared to other more healthy options.

For example, in a large well designed cohort study out of Harvard that included over 125,000 men and women, replacing saturated fat with either polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat or whole grains significantly reduce risk of heart disease (Reference 1).

In conclusion, don’t believe the hype. Vegetable sources of fat such as olive oil, canola oil, nuts, nut butters and avocados are a much healthier choice than butter.

References

1) Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2015 66:1538-48

No comments: