There is a lot of conflicting opinions as to whether butter is really as bad as experts have been saying. Does it cause disease and early death? New research has reviewed several academic and medical databases which studied the association of eating butter with disease and mortality – with over 9 research studies analyzed and included 636,151 people overall. The researchers found that there are “small or insignificant associations of butter with total mortality, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”
The study was led by Tufts scientists Laura Pimpin, Ph.D., (former postdoctoral fellow at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts in Boston) and senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., Dr.P.H.
The researchers concluded that butter may be a “middle-of-the-road” food – making it a healthier choice than sugars and starches are. They also mentioned that the combination of butter with sugars and starches is a cause for concern, saying; “white bread or potato on which butter is commonly spread and which have been linked to higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”
However, of course – everything in moderation. “Overall, our results suggest that butter should neither be demonized nor considered “back” as a route to good health,” said Mozaffarian.
“More research is needed to better understand the observed potential lower risk of diabetes, which has also been suggested in some other studies of dairy fat. This could be real, or due to other factors linked to eating butter – our study does not prove cause-and-effect.”
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