Is replacing butter with high-quality plant oils healthy?
The current guidelines call for increasing dietary, unsaturated fat intake while reducing saturated fats to prevent cardio metabolic diseases, which include heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and insulin resistance.
Switching from a diet high in saturated animal fats like butter to one with plant-based unsaturated fats like olive oil can affect the fat composition in the blood, which, in turn, can influence long-term disease risk, according to a study.
The current guidelines call for increasing dietary, unsaturated fat intake while reducing saturated fats to prevent cardio metabolic diseases, which include heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and insulin resistance.
The new study, published in Nature Medicine, demonstrated that a controlled dietary substitution of saturated fats with unsaturated fats may be good for health and can reduce cardio metabolic risk.
Saturated and Unsaturated fats:
Saturated fats are a type of fat found in foods like butter, cheese, fatty meats, and some oils (like coconut and palm oil).
They are called saturated because their chemical structure is full of hydrogen atoms, which makes them solid at room temperature (think butter or the fat on meat).
Over-eating saturated fat can raise the level of bad cholesterol in your blood, leading to heart problems over time.
That’s why limiting how much-saturated fat you eat is recommended and choosing healthier fats like those found in fish, nuts, and vegetable oils instead.
Unsaturated fats are a type of fat that’s good for your heart.
Unlike saturated fats which are solid at room temperature, unsaturated fats are usually liquid. They’re found in foods like olive oil, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish like salmon.
Unsaturated fats help lower bad cholesterol levels in your blood, which can reduce your risk of heart disease.
Including more unsaturated fats in your diet, like using olive oil for cooking or eating more nuts and
fish, can be good for your health.
