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Metaanalysis Concludes “It’s Time To Stop Demonizing Butter”
With US
butter consumption at the highest levels in 40 years, understanding
the specific contribution of butter, high in saturated fat, to chronic
disease risk is more important than ever. Scientists have long agreed
that not all dietary fats should be considered equal. Research dating
back to the 1970’s has suggested that increased intake of saturated
fats in particular may
contribute to cardiovascular disease and current
nutritional
guidelines recommend reducing saturated fat intake.
However, a number of studies have found no link between
saturated fat consumption and cardiovascular disease, leading many
within the field to question this simplistic view of dietary fats.
More recently, many in the scientific community have begun to argue
for a more nuanced approach, shifting the emphasis away from studies
and recommendations based on macronutrients such as saturated fat to a
more food-based approach that can account for the complex nutrient
composition of whole foods such as meat or dairy products.
A recent
PLOS One study, a meta-analysis conducted by researchers from Tufts
University, Stanford and the University of Sydney, takes exactly such
an approach to address the contribution of butter consumption to
chronic disease.
Study
Design
The
authors - Laura Pimpin, Liana del Gobbo, Dariush
Mozaffarin from Tufts University and Jason H.Y. Wu and
Hilda Haskelberg from The University of Sydney, systematically
reviewed the literature for prospective observational studies or
clinical trials that examined butter consumption and total mortality,
cardiovascular disease including coronary heart disease and stroke,
and type 2 diabetes. Only long duration studies with follow ups that
were able to isolate butter consumption specifically from other dairy
fats were included in the meta-analysis. The authors selected and
reviewed 9 publications containing data from over 636,000 people in 15
different countries with a total of 6.5 million person-years of
follow-up during which there were 28,271 total deaths, 9,783 cases of
incident cardiovascular disease and 23,954 cases of incident diabetes.
Median butter consumption among cohorts ranged from 4.5 grams/day
(0.3 servings) to 46 grams/day (3.2 servings. Only
observational cohort
studies were considered as they were not able to identify any
randomized clinical trials that could be included in their review.
Butter
and Disease
Their
analysis found that butter intake was not significantly associated
with cardiovascular disease or stroke. They did find a slight link
between butter consumption and all-cause mortality, with each extra
tablespoon consumed daily associated with a 1% increase in overall
mortality. The authors suggest that this effect on total mortality
may be due to the fact that people who consume more butter tend to
have less healthy diets and lifestyles in general.
Interestingly, they found that butter consumption was associated with
a significantly lower risk of type 2 diabetes. In this case, each
extra tablespoon of daily consumption decreased the risk of developing
diabetes by 4%. While intriguing, this finding is not entirely
surprising as other recent studies have found decreased diabetes risk
associated with consumption of other dairy foods, such as cheese and
yogurt.
Conclusions
Overall,
the study concludes that butter consumption has relatively small or
neutral associations with long-term health and argue that these
findings “do not support a need for
major emphasis in dietary guidelines on butter consumption, in
comparison to other better established dietary priorities.” Butter
may not be as bad for our health as previously thought,
and
it
may be time to stop demonizing butter, according to the authors. They
also
point out that
we should certainly not consider butter a health food.
They argue that the health effects of butter should always be
considered against the alternative. As they put it, “butter may be a
more healthful choice than the white bread or potato on which it is
commonly spread. In contrast, margarines, spreads, and cooking oils
rich in healthful oils, such as soybean, canola, flaxseed, and
extra-virgin olive oil, appear to be healthier choices than either
butter or refined grains, starches, and sugars.” Though more research
will be needed to fully understand the complex effects of butter and
other dairy foods on health and disease, this study demonstrates the
utility of a food-based approach to determining dietary guidelines.
1.
https://tinyurl.com/zos5cbh
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