For years we were warned that butter is bad. We were told if we were really serious about getting fit, and cared about our heart health, we had to ditch the butter, and use margarine instead.
It was drilled into us that saturated fats were harmful, and for years we listened. Yet we kept packing on the pounds and getting sicker by the day. Because, it turns out, we’ve been following bad advice this whole time.
The studies that turned foods with saturated fats into enemy number one were way off base. They were badly designed, and their results were inaccurate.
Saturated fats aren’t the worst thing you can eat, not by a long shot.
In fact, there are a number of good reasons to put nutrient-rich butter, from grass-fed cows, BACK on your menu.
1. Could help you lose weight:
Butter is high in medium-chain triglycerides, or MCTs. Unlike short-chain triglycerides, which your body stores as fat, MCTs get metabolized into energy immediately.
MCTs have also been shown to help suppress appetite. So having a bit of butter with your meal could cause you to eat less.
Plus, grass-fed butter contains CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid, which is so effective when it comes to weight loss that it’s often sold as a diet supplement.
2. Has cancer fighting properties:
It turns out the same CLA that may help you shed a few pounds could also be a powerful cancer fighter. The research is still in the early stages, but according to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, CLA has shown impressive results in animal testing, and encouraging results in humans when it comes to shrinking tumors.
Just be sure the butter you’re using is labeled as coming from grass-fed cows. Grass-fed butters contain 500 more CLA than conventional brands.
3. Contains butyrate:
You’re probably thinking “buty what?” right about now. Butyrate is an often overlooked fatty acid that’s essential for overall good health.
Like some of the other fatty acids butyrate is a natural anti-inflammatory. Which means, of course, it helps guard against chronic diseases. Early trials have also linked butyrate to lower levels of fasting triglycerides and stable insulin levels.
4. Is good for your eyes:
You can thank the vitamin A in butter for its eye benefits. Like all the alphabet vitamins, vitamin A has a number of important jobs to do such as keeping your skin and hair healthy. But this vital vitamin is tops when it comes to supporting eyesight, especially your night vision.
5. Works with calcium to protect your bones:
It’s not the dairy in butter that’s responsible for keeping your bones strong, but the K2. Vitamin K2 helps your body absorb calcium for stronger bones and teeth.
But that’s not the only benefit K2-rich butter brings to the table. Vitamin K2 deficiencies are linked to heart disease, cancer and osteoporosis. But eating K2-rich foods could help reduce those risks.
6. Better for your heart:
If you’re concerned about your heart health butter is a FAR better choice than margarine. In fact, margarine is one of the unhealthiest “health foods” ever to hit store shelves.
The groundbreaking Framingham heart study compared margarine to butter and found that while margarine significantly increased the risk of heart attack, butter didn’t affect the risk at all. And a second study linked high-fat dairy, like butter, to a 69 percent lower risk of heart disease (possibly because of those vitamin K2 we just talked about).
Butter’s gotten an undeserved bad rap. It’s time to put butter back
Healthier Talk
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