Butter Lowers Blood Fats in Men

LUND, SwedenNew research from Lund University reveals butter produces a significantly lower increase in blood fats after a meal compared with olive oil and a new type of rape oil and linseed oil. The difference was particularly noticeable in men, while in women it was more marginal. 

Nineteen women and 28 men participated in the study. Each person ate three test meals containing rape- and linseed oil, butter or olive oil. The following morning a fasting blood test was taken to check all blood fats. The test meal comprised the test fat mixed into semolina, milk, blackberry jam and a slice of bread and ham. The meal contained 35g of the test fat and around 810kcal. Blood tests were taken one, three, five and seven hours after the meal and all blood fats were analyzed. The test subjects fasted during the day.

The larger difference in men can be attributed to hormones, size of fat deposits and fundamental differences in metabolism between men and women. This makes testing on women more difficult because they must be tested during the same period in the menstrual cycle each time to obtain reliable results.

The results enhance the picture of different dietary fats. Olive oil has been studied incredibly much and its merits are often highlighted. It is well known that butter raises blood cholesterol in the long term, while its short-term effects have not been studied as much. Of course, olive oil is good, but these results show that different dietary fats can have different advantages, wrote study author Julia Svensson. Finally, all fats have high-energy content, and if we do not burn the energy we consume it results in weight increase and increased risk of disease in the long term.