Why eating more butter doesn't always raise bad fats in your blood
Limited Effect of Dietary Saturated Fat on Plasma Saturated Fat in the Context of a Low Carbohydrate Diet
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
When people eat very few carbs, their bodies handle fat differently. Eating more saturated fat (like butter) didn't raise the bad fat in their blood, but swapping butter for fish oil and olive oil made their blood less inflamed and healthier.
Surprising Findings
Doubling saturated fat intake didn’t raise plasma saturated fat levels.
For decades, nutrition guidelines said dietary saturated fat directly increases blood saturated fat. This study shows that under low-carb conditions, that link breaks.
Practical Takeaways
If you’re on a low-carb diet, swap butter and cheese for olive oil, fatty fish, and nuts to reduce inflammation and improve your fat profile.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
When people eat very few carbs, their bodies handle fat differently. Eating more saturated fat (like butter) didn't raise the bad fat in their blood, but swapping butter for fish oil and olive oil made their blood less inflamed and healthier.
Surprising Findings
Doubling saturated fat intake didn’t raise plasma saturated fat levels.
For decades, nutrition guidelines said dietary saturated fat directly increases blood saturated fat. This study shows that under low-carb conditions, that link breaks.
Practical Takeaways
If you’re on a low-carb diet, swap butter and cheese for olive oil, fatty fish, and nuts to reduce inflammation and improve your fat profile.
Publication
Journal
Lipids
Year
2010
Authors
C. Forsythe, S. Phinney, R. Feinman, Brittanie M. Volk, Daniel J. Freidenreich, E. Quann, K. Ballard, M. Puglisi, C. Maresh, W. Kraemer, D. Bibus, M. Fernández, J. Volek
Related Content
Claims (6)
If you're a man who's keeping your weight steady and eating very few carbs, doubling the amount of butter and fatty meats you eat won't raise the level of saturated fat in your blood — meaning carbs might be the key link between what you eat and what shows up in your blood.
If you eat less saturated fat (like butter) and more unsaturated fat (like olive oil) while staying on a low-carb diet, your blood fat levels drop by about 11.5% and your body shows less signs of cellular stress.
If men eat less carbs and more arachidonic acid (a type of fat), their body doesn’t seem to get more oxidative damage — and higher levels of this fat in the blood are linked to lower levels of a marker that shows cell damage, meaning the fat is probably just sitting there safely instead of getting broken down badly.
If men eating low-carb food swap out butter and fatty meats for oils like olive or fish oil, their blood gets more of the good fats that fight inflammation, the bad-to-good fat ratio drops a lot, and their cholesterol and triglycerides still improve.
Eating fewer carbs lowers a specific fat in your blood that your body makes from sugar, and this happens no matter if you eat butter or olive oil.