Shropshire farmers hail turnaround on benefits of butter
Farmers in Shropshire have welcomed a study which claims butter is no worse for you than other oils and spreads.
Cooking oils and spreads rich in a type of polyunsaturated fat help lower cholesterol but do nothing to cut the risk of heart disease or death compared with eating butter, says the latest study.
It comes after Public Health England told people to cut down on dairy products – infuriating Shropshire farmers.
This new study raises further confusion and farmers say that dairy products are full of goodness, as long as they are eaten in proportion.
This latest study by US researchers says while people may experience lowered cholesterol levels, this does not translate to improved survival or lower risk of heart disease, experts said. In fact, people with the greatest reduction in blood cholesterol appear to have a higher, rather than lower, risk of death.
Andrew Bebb, 57, who has a dairy farm in Hanwood near Shrewsbury, and has been farming his whole life says he thinks it is good that people are being encouraged to get the goodness from dairy products.
He said: "We have always known this. Dairy products get a very bad press and I don't know why because they are so full of goodness.
"For every three studies that say dairy products are bad, for the doctors recommending people don't drink milk because of the fat content, all the goodness is in the fat, all the amino acids.
"Like any food, it is fine as long as it is eaten sensibly."
Mr Bebb also slammed the study by Public Health England, saying: "It is fairly unsubstantiated, I don't know why they came out with such a sweeping statement.
"A balanced diet should include dairy products, but it is important not to overindulge in one thing. So many teenage girls have gone off milk or only drink skimmed milk because they are worried about fat content and now they are getting osteoporosis because they find they are short in calcium.
"It is everything in proportion."
The US team included researchers from the prestigious National Institutes of Health in Maryland.
They said that the findings found in the research suggest there has been an "over-estimation of the benefits of replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils" that are rich in linoleic acid (a type of omega 6 polunsaturated fat).
