Replacing Butter With Plant-based Oils May Reduce The Risk Of Deaths

According to a recent study from the Broad Institute, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Mass General Brigham, replacing butter with plant-based oils on a daily basis may reduce the chance of dying young by as much as 17%.

Researchers analyzed diet and health data from 200,000 individuals who were tracked for over 30 years. They discovered that while butter use was linked to an increased risk of total and cancer mortality, higher consumption of plant-based oils, particularly soybean, canola, and olive oil, was associated with lower mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other causes. JAMA Internal Medicine publishes the findings.

The study found that replacing butter with plant-based oils in a regular diet resulted in a 17 percent lower risk of death.

“That is a pretty huge effect on health,” said study lead author Yu Zhang, research assistant at the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a student in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard Chan School.

Plant-based oils include more unsaturated fatty acids than butter, which is high in saturated fatty acids. Dietary fatty acids have been the subject of several research, although their main food sources—butter and oils—have received less attention.

“Even cutting back butter a little and incorporating more plant-based oils into your daily diet can have meaningful long-term health benefits.”

Dietary information from 221,054 participants in the Nurses’ Health Study, Nurses’ Health Study II, and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study was examined in the current study. Participants in the study responded to questions about how frequently they consumed particular food kinds every four years.

Participants’ use of butter and plant oils, such as butter and margarine blends, spreadable butter added to bread and food, and butter used in baking and frying, was estimated by the researchers using the data. Based on the reported uses of plant-based oils in baking, frying, sautéing, and salad dressing, intake was calculated.

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They also noted the causes of death for those volunteers who had passed away. The researchers discovered that individuals who consumed the most butter had a 15% higher chance of passing away than those who consumed the least, using statistics to compare mortality rates across various food intake levels. On the other hand, people who consumed the most plant-based oils were 16 percent less likely to die than people who consumed the least.

“People might want to consider that a simple dietary swap — replacing butter with soybean or olive oil — can lead to significant long-term health benefits,” said corresponding author Daniel Wang of the Channing Division.

Wang is also an associate member at the Broad Institute and an assistant professor in the Chan School’s Department of Nutrition. “This is a significant number of deaths from cancer or other chronic diseases that could be prevented from the standpoint of public health.”

In order to simulate the effects of replacing butter with plant oils on health in a feeding study, the researchers also conducted a substitution analysis. They discovered that by replacing 10 grams of butter per day (less than a tablespoon) with the same number of calories from plant-based oils, overall mortality and cancer fatalities might be reduced by 17%.

Along with Zhang and Wang, other authors of Mass General Brigham include Meir J. Stampfer, Eric B. Rimm, Frank B. Hu, Yuhan Li, Yuxi Liu, Katia S. Chadaideh, and Walter C. Willett. Yanping Li, Xiao Gu, and Marta Guasch-Ferré are other authors.