Study: Consuming Plant-Based Oils Instead of Butter Could Significantly Reduce Mortality

From vegconomist.com/health 

A new study that analysed data from over 200,000 people followed for more than 30 years has concluded that consuming plant-based oils instead of butter may have significant beneficial health effects.

Investigators from Mass General Brigham, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard found that higher intake of plant-based oils (especially soybean, canola, and olive oil) was associated with lower total, cancer, and cardiovascular disease mortality. Meanwhile, butter intake was linked to increased risk of total and cancer mortality.

“A substantial number of deaths from cancer or other chronic diseases could be prevented”

The types of fatty acids found in butter and oil may account for the difference; butter is rich in saturated fats, while plant-based oils contain more unsaturated fatty acids. In future, the researchers would like to study the biological mechanisms underlying the study’s findings.

“What’s surprising is the magnitude of the association that we found — we saw a 17% lower risk of death when we modelled swapping butter with plant-based oils in the daily diet. That is a pretty huge effect on health,” said study lead author Yu Zhang, MBBS.

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“Simple dietary swap”

Along with assessing the diets of living participants, the study also identified participants who had died and their causes of death. Using statistics, the researchers found that those who ate the most butter had a 15% higher risk of dying than those who ate the least, while participants who consumed the most plant-based oils had a 16% lower risk of death than those who ate the least.

The scientists also conducted a substitution analysis, which indicated that replacing 10g of butter a day (less than a tablespoon) with equivalent calories of plant-based oils could lower cancer deaths and overall mortality by 17%. However, they note that the study participants were mainly health professionals and may not represent the US population as a whole.

The new study adds to a growing body of research supporting the health benefits of a plant-based diet; a Harvard study published in December found that consuming more plant proteins and less meat could improve heart health, while a recent meta-analysis concluded that replacing meat with plant-based alternatives has a significant positive impact on cardiometabolic health. However, most Americans still believe animal protein is necessary for health, despite research to the contrary.

“People might want to consider that a simple dietary swap — replacing butter with soybean or olive oil — can lead to significant long-term health benefits,” said Daniel Wang, MD, ScD, corresponding author of the new study. “From a public health perspective, this is a substantial number of deaths from cancer or from other chronic diseases that could be prevented.”

https://vegconomist.com/health/study-consuming-plant-based-oils-significantly-reduce-mortality/