Swap Butter for Oil to Protect Your Heart
Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Eating less butter and more plant oils like sunflower or soybean oil can help your heart. Studies show this swap cuts heart disease by about 30%, like taking a statin pill. But swapping butter for white bread or sugar doesn’t help. Eating more healthy fats and less saturated fat is linked to living longer and having fewer heart problems.
Surprising Findings
Replacing saturated fat with refined carbs provides no cardiovascular benefit, despite decades of 'low-fat' dietary advice.
For years, public health messaging pushed low-fat diets, often replacing fat with sugar and white flour—this study says that approach doesn’t work for heart health.
Practical Takeaways
Swap butter, lard, or fatty meats for plant-based oils like sunflower, soybean, or olive oil in cooking and dressings.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Eating less butter and more plant oils like sunflower or soybean oil can help your heart. Studies show this swap cuts heart disease by about 30%, like taking a statin pill. But swapping butter for white bread or sugar doesn’t help. Eating more healthy fats and less saturated fat is linked to living longer and having fewer heart problems.
Surprising Findings
Replacing saturated fat with refined carbs provides no cardiovascular benefit, despite decades of 'low-fat' dietary advice.
For years, public health messaging pushed low-fat diets, often replacing fat with sugar and white flour—this study says that approach doesn’t work for heart health.
Practical Takeaways
Swap butter, lard, or fatty meats for plant-based oils like sunflower, soybean, or olive oil in cooking and dressings.
Publication
Journal
Circulation
Year
2017
Authors
F. Sacks, A. Lichtenstein, Jason H. Y. Wu, L. Appel, M. Creager, P. Kris-Etherton, Michael Miller, E. Rimm, L. Rudel, J. G. Robinson, N. Stone, L. V. Van Horn
Related Content
Claims (5)
Eating less saturated fat (like butter and fatty meats) and more healthy fats (like olive oil, nuts, and fish) is linked to people living longer and having fewer heart problems or other serious illnesses.
If you swap out butter and fatty meats for oils and nuts, your 'bad' cholesterol goes down, which helps prevent clogged arteries and heart problems.
If you swap out butter and fatty meats for oils like sunflower or soybean oil, you might lower your risk of heart disease by about 30%—just like taking a statin pill—because it helps reduce the 'bad' cholesterol that clogs your arteries.
Instead of eating lots of butter and fatty meats, eat more olive oil, nuts, and fish — but only as part of a healthy way of eating like the Mediterranean or DASH diet, which doctors and health groups say is best.
Switching from foods high in saturated fat (like butter) to foods full of sugar and white bread doesn’t make your heart any safer — studies show it doesn’t help prevent heart disease.