Can saturated fat be healthy? Grass-fed butter increasingly seen as a nourishing, healthy food

Saturday, January 16, 2016 by: Jennifer Lea Reynolds
Tags: grass-fed dairy, butter, weight loss

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(NaturalNews) Mention the word, "butter" to most people, and they're likely to say they avoid it like the plague. After all, it's long-been considered a no-no – the antithesis of "healthy." If you want to lose weight, keep your cholesterol in check and just stay in overall good shape, you shouldn't even think about butter.

Or should you?

On a seemingly regular basis, there's news that confirms the health benefits of butter – but not just any butter. In particular, grass-fed butter is considered a viable choice for health-conscious individuals. A great deal of information has been surfacing showing that this kind of butter can produce positive biological results thanks to its many nutrients.

Here's why you might want to consider incorporating more grass-fed butter into your diet.

Health benefits of eating grass-fed butter

For example, it's loaded with healthy fatty acids in an amount that simply blows the lid off of more traditional butter from grain-fed cows. While the latter is filled with the fatty acid CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) – considered a fat loss supplement – butter from grass-fed cows is said to have a whopping five times the amount of CLA. Five times!⁽¹⁾

Additionally, when compared to grain-fed butter, grass-fed butter has higher amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin K2. Omega-3 fatty acids, which are also common in foods like flaxseeds and salmon, help do everything from reducing cancer to boosting heart and cognitive function. As for vitamin K2, it's linked to keeping bone, prostate and heart health intact.^(2,3)

Busting the saturated fat myth

What about saturated fat, which grass-fed butter contains? Avoiding it is a good thing, right?

Not so fast.

Interestingly, numerous studies show that consumption of it may not be as horrific as previously thought.

In fact, it's even been found to have no correlation with heart disease, as was shown among people living in Costa Rica, where grass-fed butter is commonly consumed. In that particular study, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it was determined that the more full-fat dairy eaten (like butter), the lower the risk of having a heart attack was, compared to people who consumed the least. Specifically, people were nearly 50 percent less likely to have a heart attack if they ate this kind of butter, along with other full-fat dairy foods.⁽¹⁾

"Dairy intake was not associated with risk of MI, despite a strong risk associated with saturated fat intake," the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition notes of that study. MI refers to myocardial infarction, which is more commonly known as a heart attack.⁽⁴⁾

Similar findings have also been found in other studies, including ones from Australia and many European countries; time and again, eating full-fat dairy has been associated with improved heart function and a reduced risk of strokes as well.⁽¹⁾

Why choosing grass-fed foods are better than grain-fed foods

All of this also echoes what many experts have been saying all along: saturated fat is not the enemy we've been made to think it is. In fact, saturated fatty acids are beneficial for bone health, liver protection, toxin removal, digestive tract health and of course, heart health. Furthermore, when you make sure you're getting such fats from grass-fed sources as opposed to grain-fed ones, you're doing yourself a tremendous favor.⁽⁵⁾

For example, when it comes to beef, most American cattle live much of their lives confined in stalls, standing in their own manure. They're highly susceptible to disease, and are fed grains that have been tainted with chemicals galore. In stark contrast are grass-fed cattle, which live in significantly cleaner, more natural open-field environments, where they're free of such contaminants.⁽⁶⁾

Therefore, choosing grass-fed options is the healthier way to go, whether you're enjoying meat or dairy.

Sources for this article include:

(1) WakingTimes.com

(2) NaturalNews.com

(3) Livestrong.com

(4) NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov

(5) WestonAPrice.org

(6) NaturalNews.com