2.) In population studies where butter has been replaced with unsaturated fat sources (e.g. spreads or oils high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as rapeseed oil), and overall saturated fat intake has reduced cardiovascular events (e.g. heart attacks) and mortality (number of deaths
attributable to heart disease are lower. See Finland as a case of interest here.
Does this mean you should never eat butter?
No. It’s rare that there are foods you should never eat. It’s just about understanding how
each food might contribute to risk long term.
In the case of butter, we are mainly concerned about saturated fat content. The recommendation for saturated fat intake is to keep it below 10% of your daily
calories. Fat contains 9 calories per gram on average, so here are some examples of what that means:
2000 calories = 200 calories from saturated fat (~22g).
3000 calories =
300 calories from saturated fat (~33g).
Generally, a person might spread 7-14g butter on a slice of toast, or use the same quantity for cooking, if being reasonable. Let’s say the person uses
10g in the pan when cooking. This is about 6-7g saturated fat. If they then consumed another 15g saturated fat per day via other foods, they would be at ~22g or so.
You can also view this across the
week. For example, if you love butter and want to enjoy large quantity, you could indulge in a larger quantity a couple of times per week, prioritising lower saturated fat intake on other days. It’s about figuring out what works for you.
Finally, not everyone needs to be as concerned. If you are walking around with elevated LDL-C (>100-130mg/dL depending on which guidelines you read and how much you want to reduce risk), and especially if you have other risk factors (e.g. high blood pressure, diabetes, strong family history of heart disease), then you should be more concerned about this. If you have none of those things, then it’s less of a concern.
I hope you now understand the reason we recommend considering saturated fat as a component of interest in the diet. If you’d like to follow-up with any questions, you are always welcome to respond to this email.
Yours in health,
Dr Gary McGowan
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