Butter can shorten your life, increase cancer risk, study finds

If you have ever worried about which factors can affect your longevity, you better believe one is butter.

A new study, which analyzed data from more than 220,000 people collected over a span of up to 33 years, found a direct link between consuming butter and an increased risk from cancer, while those who ate more plant-based oils had longer life spans.

The new study, by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, published in JAMA International Medicine, also found that butter added to food after cooking came with a much higher risk of all-cause mortality.

Olive oil was considered a far healthier alternatives by experts.

Emily Feivor, a registered dietitian at Northwell Health's Long Island Jewish Forest Hills hospital, said the study showed benefits of olive oil in the Mediterranean diet. 

"The Mediterranean diet uses a lot of olive oil and plant-based oils, and really limits the use of butter," Feivor said in a news release. "Butter is a high saturated fat product. Simply put, it increases our bad and decreases our good. And so all around butter is linked to a higher cause of mortality and cancer because of that and because of the role it plays on our heart health."

Chris Galen, the director of the American Butter Institute, said he had not seen the study.

Other experts cautioned that the epidemiology study looked at relationships between health, but cannot suggest a specific cause leading to death.

"We can’t say butter causes death," said Josephine Connolly-Schoonen, a dietitian and director of nutrition at Stony Brook Medicine. "It shows the relationship we already knew. I think we’ve known for some time that butter is not the optimal fat to flavor food, compared to olive oil or avocado oil."

Connolly-Schoonen said olive oil has antioxidants that can decrease inflammation. 

"The findings are consistent with a plant-based diet overall as the healthiest way of eating," she said. 

The new study analyzed data from three cohorts of men and women of different age ranges who were recruited by other researchers starting in 1976. Every four years, participants in the studies reported the frequency and quantity of specific foods in their diets. This included types of fats and oils used for cooking.

Their butter intake was calculated by their reports. Their intake of plant-based oils, such as corn, safflower, soybean, canola and olive, were also estimated based on the reported oil brand and type of fat used for cooking.

Participants with the highest intake of total butter had a 15% higher total mortality compared to those with the lowest intake.

In contrast, researchers found a 16% difference in total mortality between those with the highest to the lowest intake of total plant-based oil.

In addition, participants with higher total butter intake had a higher body mass index and were less likely to be physically active. Participants with higher total plant-based oil intake reported having more energy and alcohol consumption but were more likely to be physically active.

Dr. Pilar Stevens-Haynes, board president of the American Heart Association on Long Island, said this was the first analysis to look at data over a span of 30 years. She said replacing just 5% of saturated fats decreased the risk of cardiac events by more than 40%.

"We can now confidently say that butter consumption is associated with a higher risk of cardiac death while consumers of more natural plant-based oils had a 16% lower risk of death," Stevens-Haynes said. "Overall, the recommendation should be clear. Use more plant-based oils and lower your risk of heart disease."