Secret to longer life? Ditch butter for healthier oils, study reveals

Independent reveals in a fresh article that a new study suggests that replacing butter with plant-based oils such as corn, rapeseed, or olive oil could substantially reduce the risk of premature death.

Researchers analyzed data from over 221,000 adults over several decades and found a connection between butter consumption and a higher risk of mortality. Throughout the 30- to 50-year follow-up period, there were 50,932 deaths within the study group, including 12,241 from cancer and 11,240 from heart disease.

The findings revealed that individuals who consumed the most butter had a 15 per cent higher risk of dying from any cause compared to those who consumed the least. Conversely, those who consumed the highest amounts of plant-based oils had a 16 per cent lower risk of death compared to those with the lowest intake.

The study also showed that for every additional 10g of plant-based oil consumed daily, there was an 11 per cent lower risk of death from cancer and a 6 per cent lower risk of death from heart disease. On the flip side, higher butter consumption was linked to a 12 per cent increased risk of cancer-related death.

The researchers suggested that replacing just 10g of butter per day with the same amount of plant-based oils could lead to a 17 per cent reduction in overall mortality and cancer deaths.

In their article published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the authors concluded, “Higher butter consumption was linked to increased mortality, whereas higher intake of plant-based oils was associated with lower mortality.” They added that, "Substituting butter with plant-based oils may confer substantial benefits for preventing premature deaths."

The research data was sourced from the US Nurses' Health Study, the Nurses' Health Study II, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, with experts from Harvard Medical School contributing to the analysis.

Participants’ diets were assessed every four years through food questionnaires. Tom Sanders, professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics at King’s College London, commented on the significance of the findings, saying: “This is an important study that shows that people who chose to eat butter don’t live as long as those who choose to eat vegetable oils."

He further explained, "Butter is high in saturated fat, contains some trans fatty acids but is very low in polyunsaturated fats, whereas unhydrogenated soybean, canola, and olive oils are low in saturated fatty acids but high in unsaturated fats."

Sanders emphasized, “The take-home message is that it is healthier to choose unsaturated vegetable oils rather than butter. This is particularly relevant as there has been much negative publicity about vegetable oils on social media, which are based on unfounded claims of potential harmful effects, rather than deaths as described in the present study.”

By Naila Huseynova