Butter's reputation as a creamy condiment that is used to improve the taste of pancakes, potatoes or bread has never been a good one. But a new study suggests that the perception around it might actually be misguided. In fact, the study found no alarming links between butter and major health problems like heart disease and diabetes. The study also suggests that eating butter does not increase the risk of death.
The research, which was conducted by experts from Boston and published in the journal Plos ONE, looked into nine different studies that point to butter as a source of cardiovascular episodes, slight diabetes and deaths. Because butter has high amounts of saturated fat, it is instantly assumed it is bad food.
The experts looked into the decade-long health records of 636,000 people from different countries who have been diagnosed with either heart disease or Type 2 diabetes. The researchers learned that of these patients, butter consumption only ranged from one-third teaspoon to three tablespoons every day.
The case for eating butter just got stronger https://t.co/pRkYPnI8Ve
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At its worse, risk of consuming butter in relation to diabetes was at four percent, while risk of consuming butter in relation to death was at one percent. There were no distinct links to the risk of consuming butter to heart disease, per Live Science.
Thus, the researchers conclude that butter is a "middle-of-the-road" food, which is slightly better than sugar and starch. Its reputation as bad fat is not as awful as it was originally thought.
However, the study doesn't say that butter is healthy food. "Overall, our results suggest that butter should neither be demonized nor considered "back" as a route to good health," per Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., one of the study authors via EurekAlert.
The experts also advice that in order to keep a healthier diet with butter, it's best to avoid spreading this in bread or potato, which are rich in starch. Whatever a person pairs butter with matters a lot to a healthy diet, per Telegraph. Hence, conscientious eating is still important.
