Cardiologists Warn: Butter Can Harm Your Heart

This week, Shyam Kolvekar of the University College London Hospital, one of the leading cardiologists and heart surgeons in the UK, announced leading a campaign directed on reducing the amount of saturated fat in modern people’s diet and this way saving the life of millions of potential heart disease victims. According to Kolvekar, in order to protect nation’s health and decrease the number of young people suffering from heart attacks and clogged arteries, it can be effective to ban such popular product as butter which contains very high amounts of saturated fat (up to 50-55%).

It is quite possible to understand the concern of the specialist. Every year, about 200,000 British people die from heart attacks, and cardiologists say that it would be possible to avoid minimum 30% of the deaths by lowering the amounts of saturated fat in the people’s diet. Nowadays, British adults consume in average 800 grams of saturated fat per month, that is 20% higher than the recommended norm. Besides, Kolvekar underlines that for 8 years of his work as a heart surgeon, the age of his patients for bypass surgery has been firmly decreasing and now he operates people in their 40s and 50s.

The controversial idea of Kolvekar to ban butter evoked quite vivid public reaction in British mass media. A lot of negative comments came from farmers and popular cooking show conductors. In particular, David Halhead, owner of a big dairy farm in Lancashire, says: “The public get fed up with various people firing off theories that have no facts behind them. We are going back to the nanny state. There are a hell of a lot of things that are likely to kill you before butter. I eat butter and milk every day and I am still here.”

At the same time, this public resonance caused several reactions that should be considered working for national health improvement. For example, Mars UK Company announced the intentions to lower saturated fat content in its main products. However, it is obvious that banning one or another product will not actually solve the problem, because it is important for all of us to watch we are eating, including saturated fat and calorie intake, all the time.

Therefore, for those who want to switch to a healthier diet, there are several recommendations (in addition to widely known rules of healthy nutrition):

• Try to limit your red meat intake;
• Choose low-fat dairy products;
• Avoid eating fried foods;
• Avoid salad dressings and sauces with high content of fats;
• Avoid eating foods and products containing more than 5 g saturated fats per 100 g.

Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.

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