Butter and Nutrition: The Latest Research | NutritionFacts.org

Can we consider butter, a product formed when milk or cream is churned, and other dairy products necessary for a healthful diet?

In the population study “Milk Intake and Risk of Mortality and Fractures in Women and Men,” researchers following more than 100,000 men and women in Sweden for about 20 years found significantly higher rates of bone and hip fractures, heart disease, cancer, and premature death in general for women who drank more milk. Three glasses a day was associated with nearly twice the risk of dying early. Men with higher milk consumption were also recorded having a higher risk of premature death. A meta-analysis of all such cohort studies, however, failed to find a significant relationship between milk and mortality. Findings of a 2015 meta-analysis found that men with high intakes of dairy products—milk, low-fat milk, and cheese, but not nondairy sources of calcium—did appear to increase total prostate cancer risk.

All animal-based foods contain sex steroid hormones, such as estrogen. These hormones naturally found even in organic cow’s milk may play a role in the various associations identified between dairy products and hormone-related conditions, including acne, diminished male reproductive potential, and premature puberty. The hormone content in milk may explain why women who drink it appear to have five times the rate of twin births compared with women who do not drink milk.

When it comes to cancer, leading experts have expressed concern that the hormones in dairy and other growth factors could potentially stimulate the growth of hormone-sensitive tumors. Experimental evidence also suggests that dairy may also promote the conversion of precancerous lesions or mutated cells into invasive cancers in vitro.

Dairy consumption may also play a role in increased risk of asthma, Parkinson’s disease, and elevated blood pressure, among other health concerns such as recurring canker sores.

Find out more about the latest research on butter in the videos below.

For substantiation of any statements of fact from the peer-reviewed medical literature, please see the associated videos below.

Image Credit: David Masters / Flickr. This image has been modified.

Butter

39 videos

All Videos for Butter

Person after a workout eating a big bowl of healthy foods

Natural Ozempic Alternatives: Boosting GLP-1 with Diet and Lifestyle

Certain spices and the quinine in tonic water can boost GLP-1, but at what cost?

Illustration of red blood cells

How to Boost Your Endothelial Progenitor Cells (EPCs) for Heart Health

How can we improve the capacity of our blood vessels to repair themselves?

uncooked white potatoes named whole and sliced over dark texture background

Do Potatoes Increase the Risk of High Blood Pressure and Death?

Do potato eaters live longer or shorter lives than non-potato eaters?

Fresh white potatoes on an old wooden table

Do Potatoes Increase the Risk of Diabetes?

Does the link between white potatoes and diabetes extend to non-fried potatoes without butter or sour cream?

spice and herb collection in bowls and spoons on a black wooden background

Which Foods Are Anti-Inflammatory?

Foods that reduce inflammation. What does an anti-inflammatory diet look like?

Milk, cottage cheese, sour cream and wheat on rustic wooden background

Foods That Cause Inflammation

Inflammatory markers can double within six hours of eating a pro-inflammatory meal. Which foods are the worst?

Alarm clock with fork and knife as clock hands

Fasting to Reverse Diabetes

By losing 15 percent of their body weight, nearly 90 percent of those who’ve had type 2 diabetes for less than four years can achieve remission.

49-23 Fasting to Naturally Reverse High Blood Pressure

Fasting to Naturally Reverse High Blood Pressure

A whole food plant-based diet can be used to help lock in the benefits of fasting to kickstart the reversal of high blood pressure.

The Metabolic Harms of Night Shifts and Irregular Meals

The Metabolic Harms of Night Shifts and Irregular Meals

What shift workers can do to moderate the adverse effects of circadian rhythm disruption.

The Effects of Hormones in Dairy Milk on Cancer

The Effects of Hormones in Dairy Milk on Cancer

What are the effects of the female sex hormones in milk on men, women, and children?

Is Butter Really Back? What the Science Says

Is Butter Really Back? What the Science Says

Is butter—and other saturated fats—bad for you or not?

Reduce Cholesterol Oxidation

How to Reduce Cholesterol Oxidation

Chicken, fish, and egg powder in processed foods present greater risk from cholesterol oxidation byproducts, but there are things you can do to reduce exposure.

Oxidized Cholesterol as a Cause of Alzheimer’s Disease

Oxidized Cholesterol as a Cause of Alzheimer’s Disease

Oxidized cholesterol can be a hundred times more toxic than regular cholesterol, raising additional concerns about foods such as ghee, canned tuna, processed meat, and parmesan cheese.

Are Avocados Good for Your Cholesterol?

Are Avocados Good for Your Cholesterol?

Can guacamole lower your cholesterol as well as other whole-food fat sources like nuts, or is that just spin by the avocado industry?

Coconut Oil and the Boost in HDL “Good” Cholesterol

Coconut Oil and the Boost in HDL “Good” Cholesterol

The effects of coconut oil are compared to butter and tallow. Even if virgin coconut oil and other saturated fats raise LDL “bad” cholesterol, isn’t that countered by the increase in HDL “good” cholesterol?

How to Prevent Blood Sugar and Triglyceride Spikes after Meals

How to Prevent Blood Sugar & Triglyceride Spikes After Meals

Within hours of eating an unhealthy meal, we can get a spike in inflammation, crippling our artery function, thickening our blood, and causing a fight-or-flight nerve response. Thankfully, there are foods we can eat at every meal to counter this reaction.

What’s the “Natural” Human Diet?

What’s the “Natural” Human Diet?

What can our nutrient requirements, metabolism, and physiology tell us about what we should be eating?

Olive Oil and Artery Function

Olive Oil and Artery Function

Does extra virgin olive oil have the same adverse effect on arterial function as refined oils and animal fats?

Which Parts of the Mediterranean Diet Extended Life?

Which Parts of the Mediterranean Diet Extended Life?

Of all the components of a healthy Mediterranean diet, which are associated with a longer lifespan?

walnuts lined up on a white background

PREDIMED: Does Eating Nuts Prevent Strokes?

A randomized controlled trial found that a Mediterranean-type diet can dramatically lower the risk of subsequent heart attacks. How does it compare with plant-based diet data?

The Mediterranean Diet or a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet?

The Mediterranean Diet or a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet?

A randomized controlled trial found that a Mediterranean-type diet can dramatically lower the risk of subsequent heart attacks. How does it compare with plant-based diet data?

The Spillover Effect Links Obesity to Diabetes

Being obese may result in as much insulin resistance as eating a high-fat diet.

The Problem With the Paleo Diet Argument

The Problem with the Paleo Diet Argument

The Paleolithic period represents just the last two million years of human evolution. What did our bodies evolve to eat during the first 90% of our time on Earth?

doctor looking at a tablet

The Saturated Fat Studies: Set Up to Fail

How might Big Butter design a study (like the Siri-Tarino and Chowdhury meta-analyses) to undermine global consensus guidelines to reduce saturated fat intake?

The Saturated Fat Studies- Buttering Up the Public

The Saturated Fat Studies: Buttering Up the Public

Dairy industry campaign to “neutralize the negative image of milkfat among regulators and health professionals as related to heart disease” seeks to undermine latest guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.

Telomeres: Cap It All Off With Diet

Telomeres: Cap It All Off with Diet

Is the reversal of cellular aging Dr. Dean Ornish demonstrated with lifestyle changes due to the plant-based diet, the exercise or just to the associated weight loss?

Boosting the Bioavailability of Curcumin

Boosting the Bioavailability of Curcumin

Dietary strategies, including the use of black pepper (piperine), can boost blood levels of curcumin from the spice turmeric by up to 2,000%.

BOLD Indeed: Beef Lowers Cholesterol?

BOLD Indeed: Beef Lowers Cholesterol?

The beef industry designed a study to show that a diet containing beef was able to lower cholesterol—if one cuts out enough poultry, pork, fish, and cheese to halve one’s total saturated fat intake.

Changing Our Taste Buds

Within a few weeks of eating healthier, our taste sensations change such that foods with lower salt, sugar, and fat content actually taste better.

Butter-Flavored Microwave Popcorn or Breathing

The artificial butter flavoring diacetyl has been linked not only to deaths of workers handling the chemical, but also to serious lung disease in consumers of microwave popcorn.

woman holding breast

Plant-Based Diets for Breast Pain

Plant-based diets appear to offer relief from a variety of menstrual symptoms, including cramping, bloating, and breast pain (cyclical mastalgia).

Does Coconut Oil Clog Arteries?

Sellers of coconut oil use a beef industry tactic to downplay the risks associated with the saturated fat in their products.

close-up of older person's face

Beauty Is More than Skin Deep

Some foods appear protective against the development of skin wrinkles—while others may make them worse.

Diet vs. Exercise for Weight Loss

Diet vs. Exercise for Weight Loss

When asked whether food and beverage consumption, or physical activity, was more important, the majority of people get the answer wrong.

Optimal Phytosterol Source

Optimal Phytosterol Source

Whole food sources of phytosterols, such as seeds and nuts, are likely superior to supplements, or phytosterol-fortified spreads and beverages.

Black Versus English Walnuts

Black vs. English Walnuts

A dramatic difference exists between the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of black walnuts versus English walnuts.

Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death

Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death

Death in America is largely a foodborne illness. Focusing on studies published just over the last year in peer-reviewed scientific medical journals, Dr. Greger offers practical advice on how best to feed ourselves and our families to prevent, treat, and even reverse many of the top 15 killers in the United States.

The Leaky Gut Theory of Why Animal Products Cause Inflammation

The Leaky Gut Theory of Why Animal Products Cause Inflammation

A single meal of meats, eggs, and dairy can cause a spike of inflammation within hours that can stiffen one’s arteries. Originally, this was thought to be the result of saturated animal fat causing our gut lining to leak bacterial toxins into our bloodstream, leading to endotoxemia.

pie chart with different food groups and American flag in the background

Calculate Your Healthy Eating Score

Rate your diet on a scale of 0 to 100 using the phytochemical index, and compare your score to the Standard American Diet.

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