There are many reasons why you may be confused in the butter aisle at the super market. Whether they’re considering their arteries or their waistline, butter has gotten a bad rap for the past few years.
Two decades ago, more than 80 percent of households reported consuming margarine. But as that figure has dropped to about half of households, butter consumption has grown about 40 percent.
A study from Tufts University found that butter is actually better for you compare to other foods like sugar and starch, and contrary to popular belief, butter does not raise your risk of heart disease. In fact, it can even help protect against type-2 diabetes, although more research is needed.
To be clear, the study doesn’t say butter is a health food, rather that “it doesn’t seem to be hugely harmful or beneficial,” says study author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts in Boston. This is in line with the new thinking from a growing number of nutrition scientists who say that cutting back on fat, even the saturated kind, is doing more harm than good.
Despite a diet stuffed with cream, butter, cheese, obesity rate in France is significantly lower compared with America. They also live longer, and have lower death rates from coronary heart disease.
Wikipedia says: “The average French person consumed 108 grams per day of fat from animal sources in 2002 while the average American consumed only 72. The French eat four times as much butter, 60% more cheese and nearly three times as much pork. Although the French consume only slightly more fat overall (171g/day v 157g/day), they consume much more saturated fat because Americans consume a far larger proportion of fat in the form of vegetable oil, with most of that being soybean oil. However, according to data from the British Heart Foundation in 1999, rate of death from coronary heart disease among males aged 35-74 years was 115 per 100,000 people in the US, but only 83 per 100,000 in France.”
Below are some of the health benefits of butter:
- Butter is filled with Immune-Boosting Vitamins.
- Keeps our bones strong thanks for vitamin K and D.
- Butter reduces symptoms of diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association, sodium butyrate which is found in cheese and butter, improves response to insulin for patients with diabetes.
- Butter is better than margarine. Some margarines have unhealthy trans fats, while others have confusing health claims. Meanwhile, some say butter is an “all-natural” choice.
If that isn’t convincing enough, study in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded, quite emphatically, that “saturated fat does not cause heart disease.”
Below is a flow chart from preventdisease.com which shows the manufacturing process of margarine.
