Huge Diet Study: More Butter, More Problems

 

Ask your competent? doctor to make this useful to you by explaining EXACTLY how replacing dairy fat with plant oils helps you, because I'm seeing research suggesting dairy fat is good for you. Your doctor should know more than me since I'm not medically trained. No explanation, then you don't have a functioning stroke doctor.

• dairy fat (39 posts to April 2016)

• butter (4 posts to December 2016)

Dairy fat from milk, butter, and cheese could actually PREVENT a heart attack September 2021

The latest here:

Huge Diet Study: More Butter, More Problems

       Survival benefit was tied to plant-based oils, including affordable alternatives to olive oil

by Nicole Lou, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today March 6, 2025

Key Takeaways

• A higher intake of butter was tied to a higher mortality risk in a large study.
• A higher intake of plant-based oil was linked with a lower mortality risk.
• Plant oils associated with survival benefit were olive, soybean, and canola oils.

A large-scale longevity study suggested that more butter is bad, more plant oils are good -- and substituting plant-based oils for butter translated into better survival over several decades.

After 33 years of follow-up, deaths were disproportionately more likely among people in the highest quartile versus the lowest quartile of butter consumption (HR 1.15, 95% CI 1.08-1.22). The opposite was true for the relationship between mortality and plant-based oil consumption as the latter appeared more protective (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.79-0.90), even when olive oil was excluded from this category (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.86-0.98).

Substituting 10 g of butter intake per day with an equivalent amount of total plant-based oils was associated with a survival benefit (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.79-0.86). This applied to prevention of cancer deaths in particular (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.76-0.90), whereas cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality was not affected by the switch (HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.86-1.03), reported Dong Wang, MD, ScD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues in JAMA Internal Medicine.

"The present findings are closely aligned with the dietary recommendations of the American Heart Association and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which advocate for reducing saturated fat intake and replacing it with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats to lower the risk of chronic disease," Wang's group wrote. "The present results indicate that replacing three small pats of butter (approximately 15 g) with 1 tablespoon of plant-based oil (approximately 15 g) in the daily diet could contribute to lowering the risk of premature mortality."

There has been a longstanding debate about the health effects of butter. Studies have traditionally linked it to adverse health outcomes, but the evidence has been inconsistent and separate from the plant oil literature. In the present study, the investigators made it a point to explicitly compare butter with alternative oils.

Yong-Moon Mark Park, MD, PhD, and Yikyung Park, ScD, both of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, emphasized that not all plant-based oils are equally healthy based on the latest results.

In the study, the risk of mortality was significantly reduced with every 5-g increase in daily intake of canola oil (HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.78-0.92), soybean oil (HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.91-0.96), and olive oil (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.91-0.94).

"While olive, soybean, and canola oils are associated with reduced mortality risk, this was not observed for corn and safflower oils," Park and Park wrote in an invited commentary. "However, this association may not be robust due to the relatively low consumption of these oils compared with other plant oils in the study population. Additionally, there are other plant-based oils, such as palm oil and coconut oil, that were not examined in the study but have been linked to adverse health outcomes in other studies," the duo cautioned.

Park and Park nevertheless cited various mechanisms that could explain the study's general findings favoring plant-based oils. "Butter's high saturated fat and cholesterol content, alongside its lower levels of beneficial nutrients, make it less suitable for long-term health. In contrast, plant-based oils, enriched with unsaturated fatty acids (including omega-3 fatty acids) and bioactive compounds, provide antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties that protect against chronic diseases and premature mortality."

"Therefore, substituting these oils for butter may promote longevity and reduce cancer-related deaths. Dietary guidelines should emphasize the use of plant-based oils while minimizing saturated fats, like butter, for optimal health outcomes," the editorialists concluded.

For their prospective population-based cohort study, Wang's group included over 220,000 adults who were free of cancer, CVD, diabetes, or neurodegenerative disease at baseline from three large datasets: the Nurses' Health Study (all women, mean age of 56.1), the Nurses' Health Study II (all women, mean age of 36.1), and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (all men, mean age of 56.3).

Eating habits logged in these studies were linked to U.S. mortality data taken from nationwide records and assigned causes based on death certificates and medical records. There were 50,932 deaths identified for the study, including 12,241 from cancer and 11,240 from CVD.

Study participants had answered semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires every 4 years, reporting the frequency and quantity of specific foods, types of fats and oils, and the brands or types of oils used for cooking and added at the table over the preceding year.

People in the highest quartile by butter intake self-reported eating just under three small pats of butter per day. Those in the highest quartile by plant oil consumption ate about 1.5 tablespoons of it daily.

The study's main findings were generally supported when survival analyses were conducted considering butter and oil consumption in incremental increases instead of quartiles.

Total mortality correlated with every 5-g daily consumption of butter added to food or bread (HR 1.04 per 5-g/d increase, 95% CI 1.02-1.05). Every 10 g of more butter per day was associated with higher cancer mortality (HR 1.12, 95% CI 1.04-1.20), while every 10-g daily increase in plant-based oils intake was associated with significantly less cancer mortality (HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.85-0.94) and less CVD mortality (HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.89-0.99).

The 10-g incremental butter showed no association with CVD mortality. There was no total mortality signal from incremental increases in butter from baking or frying, either (HR 1.00 per 5-g/d increase, 95% CI 0.94-1.07).

Wang and colleagues acknowledged the smaller quantities of butter used for baking and frying may have limited their ability to detect the health effects of this practice.

They urged further investigation of the molecular mechanisms underlying the metabolic effects of butter and plant-based oils.

"One notable limitation is a lack of consideration for the role of individual socioeconomic status (SES). Although the cohort's homogeneous SES may reduce SES-related confounding, variations within this study population could still affect dietary choices and health outcomes. Even among individuals with higher SES, food costs may influence dietary choices and contribute to health disparities," noted Park and Park.

"In this context, it is important to consider the affordability of various healthy fats," the editorialists stressed. "This suggests that more affordable options, such as canola and soybean oils, may serve as accessible alternatives to olive oil, which tends to be more expensive."

• 

  Nicole Lou is a reporter for MedPage Today, where she covers cardiology news and other developments in medicine. Follow

Disclosures

The study was funded by various NIH grants.

Wang had no disclosures. Co-authors disclosed relationships with the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council, and the NIH.

Park reported support from a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant.

Primary Source

JAMA Internal Medicine

Source Reference: Zhang Y, et al "Butter and plant-based oils intake and mortality" JAMA Intern Med 2025; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.0205.

Secondary Source

JAMA Internal Medicine

Source Reference: Park YM, Park Y "To butter or replace with plant-based oils, that is the question" JAMA Intern Med 2025; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.0203.

Huge Diet Study: More Butter, More Problems

 

Ask your doctor to make this useful to you by explaining EXACTLY how replacing dairy fat with plant oils helps you, because I'm seeing research suggesting dairy fat is good for you. Your doctor should know more than me since I'm not medically trained. No explanation, then you don't have a functioning stroke doctor.

• dairy fat (39 posts to April 2016)

• butter (4 posts to December 2016)

Huge Diet Study: More Butter, More Problems

Survival benefit was tied to plant-based oils, including affordable alternatives to olive oil

by Nicole Lou, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today March 6, 2025

Key Takeaways

• A higher intake of butter was tied to a higher mortality risk in a large study.
• A higher intake of plant-based oil was linked with a lower mortality risk.
• Plant oils associated with survival benefit were olive, soybean, and canola oils.

A large-scale longevity study suggested that more butter is bad, more plant oils are good -- and substituting plant-based oils for butter translated into better survival over several decades.

After 33 years of follow-up, deaths were disproportionately more likely among people in the highest quartile versus the lowest quartile of butter consumption (HR 1.15, 95% CI 1.08-1.22). The opposite was true for the relationship between mortality and plant-based oil consumption as the latter appeared more protective (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.79-0.90), even when olive oil was excluded from this category (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.86-0.98).

Substituting 10 g of butter intake per day with an equivalent amount of total plant-based oils was associated with a survival benefit (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.79-0.86). This applied to prevention of cancer deaths in particular (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.76-0.90), whereas cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality was not affected by the switch (HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.86-1.03), reported Dong Wang, MD, ScD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues in JAMA Internal Medicine.

"The present findings are closely aligned with the dietary recommendations of the American Heart Association and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which advocate for reducing saturated fat intake and replacing it with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats to lower the risk of chronic disease," Wang's group wrote. "The present results indicate that replacing three small pats of butter (approximately 15 g) with 1 tablespoon of plant-based oil (approximately 15 g) in the daily diet could contribute to lowering the risk of premature mortality."

There has been a longstanding debate about the health effects of butter. Studies have traditionally linked it to adverse health outcomes, but the evidence has been inconsistent and separate from the plant oil literature. In the present study, the investigators made it a point to explicitly compare butter with alternative oils.

Yong-Moon Mark Park, MD, PhD, and Yikyung Park, ScD, both of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, emphasized that not all plant-based oils are equally healthy based on the latest results.

In the study, the risk of mortality was significantly reduced with every 5-g increase in daily intake of canola oil (HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.78-0.92), soybean oil (HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.91-0.96), and olive oil (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.91-0.94).

"While olive, soybean, and canola oils are associated with reduced mortality risk, this was not observed for corn and safflower oils," Park and Park wrote in an invited commentary. "However, this association may not be robust due to the relatively low consumption of these oils compared with other plant oils in the study population. Additionally, there are other plant-based oils, such as palm oil and coconut oil, that were not examined in the study but have been linked to adverse health outcomes in other studies," the duo cautioned.

Park and Park nevertheless cited various mechanisms that could explain the study's general findings favoring plant-based oils. "Butter's high saturated fat and cholesterol content, alongside its lower levels of beneficial nutrients, make it less suitable for long-term health. In contrast, plant-based oils, enriched with unsaturated fatty acids (including omega-3 fatty acids) and bioactive compounds, provide antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties that protect against chronic diseases and premature mortality."

"Therefore, substituting these oils for butter may promote longevity and reduce cancer-related deaths. Dietary guidelines should emphasize the use of plant-based oils while minimizing saturated fats, like butter, for optimal health outcomes," the editorialists concluded.

For their prospective population-based cohort study, Wang's group included over 220,000 adults who were free of cancer, CVD, diabetes, or neurodegenerative disease at baseline from three large datasets: the Nurses' Health Study (all women, mean age of 56.1), the Nurses' Health Study II (all women, mean age of 36.1), and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (all men, mean age of 56.3).

Eating habits logged in these studies were linked to U.S. mortality data taken from nationwide records and assigned causes based on death certificates and medical records. There were 50,932 deaths identified for the study, including 12,241 from cancer and 11,240 from CVD.

Study participants had answered semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires every 4 years, reporting the frequency and quantity of specific foods, types of fats and oils, and the brands or types of oils used for cooking and added at the table over the preceding year.

People in the highest quartile by butter intake self-reported eating just under three small pats of butter per day. Those in the highest quartile by plant oil consumption ate about 1.5 tablespoons of it daily.

The study's main findings were generally supported when survival analyses were conducted considering butter and oil consumption in incremental increases instead of quartiles.

Total mortality correlated with every 5-g daily consumption of butter added to food or bread (HR 1.04 per 5-g/d increase, 95% CI 1.02-1.05). Every 10 g of more butter per day was associated with higher cancer mortality (HR 1.12, 95% CI 1.04-1.20), while every 10-g daily increase in plant-based oils intake was associated with significantly less cancer mortality (HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.85-0.94) and less CVD mortality (HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.89-0.99).

The 10-g incremental butter showed no association with CVD mortality. There was no total mortality signal from incremental increases in butter from baking or frying, either (HR 1.00 per 5-g/d increase, 95% CI 0.94-1.07).

Wang and colleagues acknowledged the smaller quantities of butter used for baking and frying may have limited their ability to detect the health effects of this practice.

They urged further investigation of the molecular mechanisms underlying the metabolic effects of butter and plant-based oils.

"One notable limitation is a lack of consideration for the role of individual socioeconomic status (SES). Although the cohort's homogeneous SES may reduce SES-related confounding, variations within this study population could still affect dietary choices and health outcomes. Even among individuals with higher SES, food costs may influence dietary choices and contribute to health disparities," noted Park and Park.

"In this context, it is important to consider the affordability of various healthy fats," the editorialists stressed. "This suggests that more affordable options, such as canola and soybean oils, may serve as accessible alternatives to olive oil, which tends to be more expensive."

• 

  Nicole Lou is a reporter for MedPage Today, where she covers cardiology news and other developments in medicine. Follow

Disclosures

The study was funded by various NIH grants.

Wang had no disclosures. Co-authors disclosed relationships with the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council, and the NIH.

Park reported support from a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant.

Primary Source

JAMA Internal Medicine

Source Reference: Zhang Y, et al "Butter and plant-based oils intake and mortality" JAMA Intern Med 2025; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.0205.

Secondary Source

JAMA Internal Medicine

Source Reference: Park YM, Park Y "To butter or replace with plant-based oils, that is the question" JAMA Intern Med 2025; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.0203.

Eating more olive oil linked to longer life span

 Ask your doctor to make this useful to you by explaining EXACTLY how replacing dairy fat with olive oil helps you, because I'm seeing research suggesting dairy fat is good for you. Your doctor should know more than me since I'm not medically trained. No explanation, then you don't have a useful doctor.

• dairy fat (15 posts to April 2016 )

• butter (3 posts to December 2016)

Eating more olive oil linked to longer life span

April 1, 2022

• By Matthew Solan, Executive Editor, Harvard Men's Health Watch

In the journals

Consuming a small amount of olive oil every day may help you live longer, according to an observational study.

Researchers looked at health data from about 90,000 people over a period of nearly 30 years. Participants were free of heart disease and cancer and completed dietary questionnaires every four years. They were asked how often, on average, they ate specific foods, including types of fats and oils.

The results showed that those who consumed more than ½ tablespoon of olive oil per day (more than 7 grams) had a 19% lower risk of dying from any cause than those who rarely or never had olive oil. Looking at specific conditions, the researchers found the olive oil group also had a 19% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, a 17% lower risk of dying from cancer, and a 29% lower risk of dying from a neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Advancements for Improving Health Outcomes

Quality and Safety in Clinical Operations is a Harvard Medical School course being held in a live virtual format from June 8-10, 2022. This Continuing Education course will focus on ways to identify gaps and develop successful, sustainable, scalable interventions that lead to improved outcomes. You will leave this course with a pathway to review your institution’s current program and identify ways to advance strategically and tactically to impact outcomes. Lessons learned from the COVID-19 will be highlighted, including the need to aggressively advance our institutional approach to equity.

Learn More

The researchers suggested that substituting olive oil for unhealthier fats could have a more significant effect. They estimated that replacing 10 grams per day of fats like margarine, butter, and mayonnaise with the same amount of olive oil could lower the risk of overall death and disease by as much as 34%. The study was published online Jan. 12, 2022, by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

 

Randomised trial of coconut oil, olive oil or butter on blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors in healthy men and women

I couldn't elucidate the clear meaning of what this said, so you'll have to hope your doctor has better comprehension skills than me. Or contacts the researcher for a 5th grade explanation.
I'm doing coconut oil for various reasons listed in my blog.

• coconut oil (64 posts to March 2014)

Randomised trial of coconut oil, olive oil or butter on blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors in healthy men and women

1. Kay-Tee Khaw1,
2. Stephen J Sharp2,
3. Leila Finikarides

3,4,

Islam Afzal5,

Marleen Lentjes

1,

Robert Luben1,

Nita G Forouhi2

Author affiliations

Abstract

Introduction High dietary saturated fat intake is associated with higher blood concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), an established risk factor for coronary heart disease. However, there is increasing interest in whether various dietary oils or fats with different fatty acid profiles such as extra virgin coconut oil may have different metabolic effects but trials have reported inconsistent results. We aimed to compare changes in blood lipid profile, weight, fat distribution and metabolic markers after four weeks consumption of 50 g daily of one of three different dietary fats, extra virgin coconut oil, butter or extra virgin olive oil, in healthy men and women in the general population.

Design Randomised clinical trial conducted over June and July 2017.

Setting General community in Cambridgeshire, UK.

Participants Volunteer adults were recruited by the British Broadcasting Corporation through their websites. Eligibility criteria were men and women aged 50–75 years, with no known history of cancer, cardiovascular disease or diabetes, not on lipid lowering medication, no contraindications to a high-fat diet and willingness to be randomised to consume one of the three dietary fats for 4 weeks. Of 160 individuals initially expressing an interest and assessed for eligibility, 96 were randomised to one of three interventions; 2 individuals subsequently withdrew and 94 men and women attended a baseline assessment. Their mean age was 60 years, 67% were women and 98% were European Caucasian. Of these, 91 men and women attended a follow-up assessment 4 weeks later.

Intervention Participants were randomised to extra virgin coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil or unsalted butter and asked to consume 50 g daily of one of these fats for 4 weeks, which they could incorporate into their usual diet or consume as a supplement.

Main outcomes and measures The primary outcome was change in serum LDL-C; secondary outcomes were change in total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TC and HDL-C), TC/HDL-C ratio and non-HDL-C; change in weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, per cent body fat, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose and C reactive protein.

Results LDL-C concentrations were significantly increased on butter compared with coconut oil (+0.42, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.65 mmol/L, P<0.0001) and with olive oil (+0.38, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.60 mmol/L, P<0.0001), with no differences in change of LDL-C in coconut oil compared with olive oil (−0.04, 95% CI −0.27 to 0.19 mmol/L, P=0.74). Coconut oil significantly increased HDL-C compared with butter (+0.18, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.30 mmol/L) or olive oil (+0.16, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.28 mmol/L). Butter significantly increased TC/HDL-C ratio and non-HDL-C compared with coconut oil but coconut oil did not significantly differ from olive oil for TC/HDL-C and non-HDL-C. There were no significant differences in changes in weight, BMI, central adiposity, fasting blood glucose, systolic or diastolic blood pressure among any of the three intervention groups.

Conclusions and relevance Two different dietary fats (butter and coconut oil) which are predominantly saturated fats, appear to have different effects on blood lipids compared with olive oil, a predominantly monounsaturated fat with coconut oil more comparable to olive oil with respect to LDL-C. The effects of different dietary fats on lipid profiles, metabolic markers and health outcomes may vary not just according to the general classification of their main component fatty acids as saturated or unsaturated but possibly according to different profiles in individual fatty acids, processing methods as well as the foods in which they are consumed or dietary patterns. These findings do not alter current dietary recommendations to reduce saturated fat intake in general but highlight the need for further elucidation of the more nuanced relationships between different dietary fats and health.

Trial registration number NCT03105947; Results.

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020167

Setting the record straight on the great butter debate - Walter C. Willett, MD, DrPH

You'll have to see where your diet protocol falls in this. You do have a diet protocol, DON'T YOU?
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/62964
Debate over butter flared this past year, with conflicting reports on whether the stuff is unhealthy. In this exclusive MedPage Today video, Walter C. Willett, MD, DrPH, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, addresses the surrounding confusion, emphasizing the key issue of comparators. While occasional butter consumption is permissible, he argues that there are healthier fats (such as olive and soybean oils) that improve patients' chances for maintaining long-term health.
Following is a transcript of his remarks:
There has been a lot of confusion about the role of butter in a diet, and probably the most important reason for this confusion has been the failure to specify what butter is being compared with. If you compare butter with the old high trans margarines, almost for sure butter was the healthier choice, but those old margarines are pretty much off the market now and almost all of them are trans free at this point in time.
If you compare butter with calories from refined starch and sugar, it's going to be pretty much a wash. They'll both have adverse impacts on metabolic factors and on risk of heart disease and diabetes. However, if you compare butter with the liquid plant oils like soybean oil, olive oil, canola oil, pretty much all the liquid vegetable oils, those plant oils are going to be a whole lot better than butter.
What should a physician be conveying to their patients? It's basically this information: whenever you have a chance to replace butter with something that's healthier, basically the liquid vegetable oils, that's going to be a better choice, both for improving blood lipids and for reducing risk of heart disease in type 2 diabetes.

There have been some studies that have been fueling some of the confusion about butter. For example, there was a very prominent meta-analysis in the Annals of Internal Medicine about a year and a half ago which seemed to conclude that the type of fat in the diet didn't make any difference with regard to heart disease.

ADVERTISEMENT

Physician Website

Relapsed Multiple Myeloma

Treatment Option. Learn More.

www.relapsed-multiple-myeloma.com

However, that was an extremely flawed meta-analysis in multiple ways. One thing, there were just egregious errors in pulling the data out of the original studies, but most fundamentally they actually couldn't do the right analysis because they were trying to summarize papers in which the comparison for saturated fat wasn't specified, and it's really important whether you're comparing saturated fat with starch or with trans fat or with healthy plant oils that are mostly unsaturated, that makes a huge difference, and if you don't specify the comparison, most of the calories in our diet are coming from refined starch, sugar, and red meat.
Therefore, if you're comparing saturated fat with all those really unhealthy calories, saturated fat is not going to look so bad. It's going to look about the same. But if you compare saturated fat with healthy plant oils, using those healthy plant oils will definitely reduce the risk of heart disease while they're improving blood lipids at the same time.
As we've come to look at data that's been accumulating in our long-term studies after the last three or four decades, what we've seen is that the type of fat in the diet is extremely important. Total fat percentage of calories and total fat just doesn't seem to make much difference. So we see huge benefits of replacing trans fat and saturated fat with unsaturated plant oils for heart disease. But in some of our more recent analyses, we've seen major benefit for total mortality as well, and it's not coming just from heart disease. It's coming from multiple other endpoints as well, including neurologic diseases, lower risk of neurologic diseases with healthier fats, lower risk of chronic lung disease and other conditions. So making healthy types of fat in the diet a priority is one of the most important things people can do about their long-term health and well-being.
We've tried to put together some of the most up-to-date studies as well as background literature on our Department of Nutrition website, Nutrition Source. Just go to Google, put in Nutrition Source, and you'll be there.

Biem Butter sprayer

I can't spread butter on any piece of bread because left hand is of no use in holding bread steady, fingers are curled, arm is pulled in next to body. I bet your therapist doesn't have this as a recommended compensation tool. Quite pricey, $129
https://www.facebook.com/Insiderinventions/videos/941361599332718/
This device turns butter into mist.