A recent study by a team of researchers from the University of Boston, American, revealed that the medical warnings that prevailed for decades, that saturated fats such as butter affect the health of the heart and increase the chances of developing type 2 diabetes, were not accurate.
The study, published by the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, included about 2,500 men and women over the age of 30, and they were followed over years, and their food patterns, diabetes and heart disease were monitored, in an attempt to understand the relationship between butter consumption or vegetable ghee and heart health.
The results of the study showed that eating at least 5 grams of butter per day, which is equivalent to almost a teaspoon, reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 31 percent, as it was found that the butter raises good cholesterol levels in the blood, and contributes to reducing harmful fats known to cause arteries, heart attacks and strokes.
These results are contradicting with dietary recommendations that prevailed for decades, which were based on previous research that linked saturated fats to heart disease, as these warnings began since the 1960s, when the researchers noticed a relationship between Western nutritional patterns and high rates of heart disease, which led to the call to reduce the consumption of animal fats.
In this context, the results showed that vegetable ghee was associated with an increased risk of diabetes by more than 40%, and cardiovascular disease by 30%.
It is worth noting that the new study is added to a recent research series that reconsider these hypotheses, and indicates that some butter components may be beneficial to the health of the heart.