Cutting Butter Might Help Your Heart — But Not How You Think
Reduction in saturated fat intake for cardiovascular disease.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Eating less saturated fat (like butter and fatty meat) for a few years can lower your chance of having a heart attack or stroke — but only if you swap it with healthy fats or whole grains, not sugar. It doesn’t make you live longer or stop heart disease deaths outright.
Surprising Findings
Reducing saturated fat had no effect on heart attack or stroke death rates.
Most people believe cutting saturated fat prevents fatal heart events. But the evidence for fatal myocardial infarction and stroke mortality is rated ‘low’ or ‘very low’ quality—meaning we can’t say it helps prevent deaths.
Practical Takeaways
Swap butter, cheese, and fatty meats with olive oil, nuts, seeds, or whole grains like oats and brown rice.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Eating less saturated fat (like butter and fatty meat) for a few years can lower your chance of having a heart attack or stroke — but only if you swap it with healthy fats or whole grains, not sugar. It doesn’t make you live longer or stop heart disease deaths outright.
Surprising Findings
Reducing saturated fat had no effect on heart attack or stroke death rates.
Most people believe cutting saturated fat prevents fatal heart events. But the evidence for fatal myocardial infarction and stroke mortality is rated ‘low’ or ‘very low’ quality—meaning we can’t say it helps prevent deaths.
Practical Takeaways
Swap butter, cheese, and fatty meats with olive oil, nuts, seeds, or whole grains like oats and brown rice.
Publication
Journal
The Cochrane database of systematic reviews
Year
2020
Authors
L. Hooper, Nicole Martin, O. Jimoh, Christian Kirk, Eve Foster, A. Abdelhamid
Related Content
Claims (6)
If you eat less saturated fat (like butter or fatty meat) but still eat lots of white bread, sugary snacks, or refined carbs, it probably won’t make your heart any healthier or lower your risk of heart disease.
If adults in developed countries eat less saturated fat for at least two years, they’re probably less likely to have heart attacks, strokes, or need heart surgery—about 1 in 56 people would avoid one of these events over four years.
If you eat less saturated fat for two years or more, it probably won’t make you live longer or stop you from dying of heart disease — at least not in countries with lots of food and healthcare.
If you swap out butter and fatty meats for foods like nuts, seeds, or bread and rice, you might lower your risk of heart problems—but we’re not sure if swapping for olive oil or chicken makes a difference.
When people eat less saturated fat, their cholesterol levels go down—and when cholesterol drops, they have fewer heart problems. This suggests that lowering cholesterol is the main reason eating less saturated fat helps the heart.