Substituting Butter with Plant-Based Oils May Improve Survival

A prospective US population-based cohort study suggested that higher intake of butter was associated with increased mortality, while higher intake of plant-based oils was associated with lower mortality. Substituting butter with plant-based oils may prevent premature deaths. There were 221 054 adults with mean age at baseline of 36.1 ~ 56.3 years from 3 cohorts. A total of 50 932 deaths were documented during up to 33 years of follow-up (1990-2023), with 12 241 due to cancer and 11 240 due to cardiovascular disease (CVD). Participants were categorized into quartiles based on their intake of butter or plant-based oils. After adjusting for potential confounders, the highest butter intake was associated with a 15% higher risk of total mortality compared to the lowest intake (hazard ratio [HR], 1.15). In contrast, the highest intake of total plant-based oils compared to the lowest intake was associated with a 16% lower total mortality (HR, 0.84). There was a statistically significant association between higher intakes of canola, soybean, and olive oils and lower total mortality, with HRs per 5-g/d increment of 0.85, 0.94, and 0.92, respectively. Every 10-g/d increment in plant-based oils intake was associated with an 11% lower risk of cancer mortality (HR, 0.89) and a 6% lower risk of CVD mortality (HR, 0.94), whereas a higher butter intake was associated with higher cancer mortality (HR, 1.12). Substituting 10-g/d intake of total butter with an equivalent amount of total plant-based oils was associated with an estimated 17% reduction in total mortality (HR, 0.83) and in cancer mortality (HR, 0.83). The results support current dietary recommendations to replace animal fats like butter with nonhydrogenated vegetable oils that are high in unsaturated fats, especially olive, soy, and canola oil. Source: https://jamanetwork.com/