Is dairy fat worse than plant fat for your heart?
Effect of milk fat on LDL cholesterol and other cardiovascular risk markers in healthy humans: the INNOVALAIT project
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Spring milk fat raised total cholesterol and inflammation markers despite having LESS palmitic acid than the vegetable fat diet.
Palmitic acid is usually blamed for raising LDL, but here, spring milk fat had less of it—and still caused more harm. This suggests other unknown components in spring milk (like fatty acid profiles or bioactive compounds) are driving risk.
Practical Takeaways
If you eat dairy fat, choose winter butter or fermented dairy (like yogurt) over spring butter—especially if you have high cholesterol.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Spring milk fat raised total cholesterol and inflammation markers despite having LESS palmitic acid than the vegetable fat diet.
Palmitic acid is usually blamed for raising LDL, but here, spring milk fat had less of it—and still caused more harm. This suggests other unknown components in spring milk (like fatty acid profiles or bioactive compounds) are driving risk.
Practical Takeaways
If you eat dairy fat, choose winter butter or fermented dairy (like yogurt) over spring butter—especially if you have high cholesterol.
Publication
Journal
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Year
2019
Authors
J. Bard, L. Drouet, D. Lairon, M. Cazaubiel, C. Marmonier, E. Ninio, C. Bal dit Sollier, J. Martin, C. Boyer, C. Bobin-Dubigeon, for the Innovalait Study group
Related Content
Claims (6)
When people with high cholesterol ate butter or dairy fat instead of plant-based fat for two months, their bad cholesterol (LDL) didn’t go up any more than when they ate plant oil.
Butter made from spring milk raised total cholesterol a bit more than plant oil, even when both had the same amount of saturated fat — meaning something else in spring milk might be affecting cholesterol.
Even though winter butter had more saturated fat than plant oil, it didn’t raise bad cholesterol more — meaning not all saturated fats affect cholesterol the same way.
Butter from spring milk made a protein called apoC-III go up more than plant oil — and this protein is linked to higher heart disease risk, even if bad cholesterol didn’t change.
Spring butter made an inflammation marker (CRP) go up more than plant oil — meaning it might make your body more inflamed, even if cholesterol didn’t change.