Unless you eat like a hunter-gatherer, grass-fed butterfat is an irreplaceable part of a healthy diet, argues the Weston A. Price Foundation. Studies show it protects against heart disease, cancer and bone disease.
Unless you eat organ meats, fish eggs, bugs or blubber — items most civilized people find repulsive — you are missing out on essential nutrients that can be found only in grass-fed butterfat, argues the “politically incorrect” nutrition organization, the Weston A. Price Foundation.
Within the last century, “Diet Dictocrats” have decided that saturated fats, butter chief among them, are to blame for heart disease and cancer, WAP cofounder Sally Fallon says in an article titled “Why Butter is Better.“
But butter has been worshiped for its life-sustaining, health-promoting properties for millennia, she argues.
“When Dr. Weston Price studied native diets in the 1930’s he found that butter was a staple in the diets of many supremely healthy peoples,” Fallon writes.
“Isolated Swiss villagers placed a bowl of butter on their church altars, set a wick in it, and let it burn throughout the year as a sign of divinity in the butter. Arab groups also put a high value on butter, especially deep yellow-orange butter from livestock feeding on green grass in the spring and fall. American folk wisdom recognized that children raised on butter were robust and sturdy; but that children given skim milk during their growing years were pale and thin, with ‘pinched’ faces.”
Heart disease was rare in America at the turn of the 20th century, Fallon notes, but between 1920 and 1960, it became America’s number one killer. During the same period, butter consumption plummeted from 18 pounds per person per year to four.
“It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in statistics to conclude that butter is not a cause,” Fallon writes.
In 2015, American butter consumption reached a 40-year-high of 5 pounds per person per year, Fallon noted. New Zealanders consumed 24 pounds!
Meanwhile, only 1 in 20 adults in New Zealand has heart disease, compared to 1 in 4 Americans.
That means New Zealanders consume 5 times as much butter as Americans and have a fifth of the heart disease.
A 2016 Harvard meta-analysis of studies found no association between butter and heart disease and a 1991 survey by the Medical Research Council showed men eating butter had half the risk of developing heart disease as those using margarine.
This is because grass-fed butter has nutrients that protect against heart disease and other diseases, Fallon says.
Protects Against Heart Disease
Vitamin A – Vitamin A is needed for the health of the thyroid and adrenal glands, both of which play a role in maintaining the proper functioning of the heart and cardiovascular system.
Heart abnormalities and larger blood vessels occur in babies born to vitamin A deficient mothers.
“Butter is America’s best and most easily absorbed source of vitamin A,” Fallon says.
Lecithin – Lecithin assists in the proper assimilation and metabolism of cholesterol and other fat constituents.
Antioxidants – Butter also contains a number of anti-oxidants that protect against the kind of free radical damage that weakens the arteries.
Vitamin A and vitamin E found in butter both play a strong anti-oxidant role.
Butter is also very rich source of selenium, a vital anti-oxidant–containing more per gram than herring or wheat germ.
Cholesterol – Butter is a great dietary source of cholesterol, which — surprise — is actually a powerful antioxidant that floods into the blood when we take in too many harmful free-radicals, such the damaged, rancid fats in margarine and highly processed vegetable oils, Fallon says, citing a 1984 study.
Protects Against Cancer
In the 1940’s researchers blamed saturated fats for cancer. They neglected to mention the “saturated” fat they used in their experiments was partially hydrogenated, the kind found in margarine.
“So butter was tarred with the black brush of the fabricated fats, and in such a way that the villains got passed off as heroes,” Fallon says.
Actually, many of the naturally saturated fats in butter have strong anti-cancer properties.
Butter is rich in short and medium fatty acid chains that have strong anti-tumor effects, according to a 1986 study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Butter also contains conjugated linoleic acid, which provides excellent protection against cancer, according to a 1995 study published in Nutrition Reviews.
Protects Bones and Joints
The Wulzen or “anti-stiffness” factor is a nutrient unique to butter. Dutch researcher Wulzen found that it protects against calcification of the joints–degenerative arthritis–as well as hardening of the arteries. Unfortunately this vital substance is destroyed during pasteurization.
Vitamins A and D in butter are essential to the proper absorption of calcium and hence necessary for strong bones and teeth.
The plague of osteoporosis in milk-drinking western nations may be due to the fact that most people choose skim milk over whole.
Ethnic groups that do not use butter obtain the same nutrients from things like insects, organ meats, fish eggs and the fat of marine animals, food items most modern people find repulsive, Fallon says.
“For Americans–who do not eat bugs or blubber–butter is not just better, it is essential.”
For more politically incorrect nutrition info, check out Fallon’s book Nourishing Fats: Why We Need Animal Fats for Health and Happiness
Comments
15 responses to “Butter is Not Just Better, It’s Essential To Modern Human Health”
This article is terrible.
It suggests NZ increased butter consumption vs US is heart healthy.
heart disease is the leading cuase of death in New Zealand and America. 1 in 3 deaths are from heart disease in both countries
It references a harvard meta analysis that finds no link between butter and increased cardio vascular disease, however that same study says each 14g serving of butter consumed daily increases overall mortality by 1% and suggests butter, a concentrated source of saturated fat, is still a worse choice than sources of healthy unsaturated fats such as extra virgin olive, soybean, or canola oils. It also says butter does not lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
It suggests butter protects against heart disease becuase of Vitamin A, Lecithin, antioxidants, and cholesterol and cites
It suggest butter protects against cancer because of the anti cancer properties of saturated fat and conjugated linoleic acid
These claims are made citing studies from 1984 through 1986
recent studies from 2016 show vitamin A is important for heart development in embryos, but whether it has a role in maintaining heart health is unclear.
2013 studies from the cleveland clinic, ranked #1 in the US for cardiology and heart surgery, have clinically shown lecithin is an increased risk for heart attack
The cleveland clinic also suggests the best food sources of antioxidants for heart health are citrus fruits, vegetable oils, nut butters, vegetables, and salmon. They do not mention butter
There is limited association with fat and cancer, ssaturated or otherwise
The only statement made correctly by this article is that that grass fed butter is a good source of conjugated linoleic acid, which has anti tumour properties. Other sources are grass fed beef and full fat milk.
The article also suggests the vitamin A and D are essential for calcium absorption.
Vitamin A has no association with calcium absorption
Vitamin D is essential to calcium absorption. There is no difference in the occurence of vitamin D between grass fed and grain fed butter.
This article would be much more truthful, and much better written if it simply stated “Grass fed butter is high in conjugated linoleic acid which has anti cancer properties, if you are concerned about cardiovascular disease, eat a diet rich in fish, fruits, vegetables, and nuts, stay away from too much meat, don’t smoke, say away from refined carbohydrates and sugar. grass fed cows produce better beef, butter and milk thank grain fed cows” and dropped all the BS
Now all you need to do is study and understand science and who funds the studies and last but not least who gets published. Hint: follow the money and you quickly find we are being lied to for profit. Saturated fat IS KING! It is essential for human health.
Thanks buddy for clearing it up.
Is not fresh raw goat milk as good as or better than butter?
I don’t find butter to be a bad thing. Like most such things, too much of it isn’t good. I’ve been using butter most all my life and I’m 54, and have always, ALWAYS, had excellent cholesterol levels and a strong heart. I will say, I eat right – lean meats, organic veg and fruit, light on the grains but organic as well, and I exercise regularly. I prefer grass-fed animal products as that is what the animal naturally should be eating, but I don’t see the issue with grain fed unless the animals are given hormones or other such unnatural substances. I don’t use milk as it seems to bother my digestive system, but fermented products from milk don’t seem to be an issue. A small amount of butter has never bothered me. To me, it’s more about natural foods in their proper amounts and staying away from the processed and junk-laden garbage.
Butter, like all such things, should be used in moderation, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s certainly better than trans-fats!
Grain fed means feedlots means unhealthy white fat.
It is a shame that when one writes articles like this the critics are not far behind.This article obviously isn’t interested in gaining profit from butter as it is readily obtained from stores and can be made locally..furthering the ideology or organic free range food. Unlike Canola oil,and other vegetable oils which require much processing making them possibly more toxic.Political activism is trying to decide for the public what we can and can’t eat.Perhaps these activists could also explain the rising cause of disease that the sugar and processed carbohydrate industry has caused over the last few decades.As I see it Pharmaceutical companies love ill people as much vitamin supplement companies love processed food addicts.There is much superiority that these people convey thinking it will protect them from illness.However there is far too much politics in food…and I feel that is the biggest disease.
this article is an advertisement for a book, or are you not paying attention, it’s completely financially motivated!
But a company that produces butter can certainly be paying the author to write an artcile about the benefits of their product. U dont need to sell the stuff to make a profit
I’m trying to figure out which nutrients are found exclusively in “grass-fed butter fat” that can’t be found in non-animal products? The article didn’t seem to provide any…
Vitamin K2
The industry of food allows this dependency to food.
Butter is a fat. Fat clogs arteries and leads to all kinds of health problems. You do not need fat to eat a healthy diet.
Please read Dr. Dean Ornish’s books and watch Fork over Knives on Netflix. Join the FOK Facebook group.
This is bullshit. Wapf is just a marketing arm of dairy producers thus their studies are illegitimate
Simply put…”grass fed butter” is healthier than “grain fed butter”. It doesn’t mean one should up their intake of it. Grass fed has nutrients that grain fed does not. Use moderate amounts and take note that “olive oil and canola oil” should not be used for high heat saute or frying. Use Ghee, peanut oil or a combination of butter and peanut oil. Butter burns but less likely to burn if you add oil to it. One should know that our brain needs cholesterol to function so never cut it totally out of your diet.