Butter is not "back", a leading public health researcher said today after unveiling evidence linking saturated fats to increased risk of heart disease.
Saturated fat should be no more than 10% of calorie consumption, according to the researchers from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
According to today’s analysis, those eating the greatest amount of the most common saturated fats faced a 24% increased risk of developing coronary heart disease.
Cutting consumption of these fats by just 1% could reduce the heart disease risk by up to 8%, the researchers report in The BMJ.
The findings are the latest observational study from a group of volunteers nurses and health professionals who have been tracked since the early 1980s.
The researchers said the greatest reduction in risk was achieved by replacing palmitic acid, found in palm oil, meat and dairy fat.
Researcher Professor Frank Hu said: "This study dispels the notion that ‘butter is back’.
"Individual saturated fatty acids share the same food sources, such as red meat, dairy, butter, lard, and palm oil.
"Therefore it is impractical to differentiate the types of saturated fatty acids in making dietary recommendations, an idea that some researchers have put forth.
"Instead, it is healthier to replace these fatty acids with unsaturated fats from vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, and seafood as well as high quality carbohydrates."
Intakes of Individual Saturated Fatty Acids and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Two Large Prospective Cohort Studies of U.S. Men and Women. BMJ 23 November 2016; doi: 10.1136/bmj.i5796 [abstract]
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