Why Cutting Back On Butter Is Important For Brain Health
Plus, my recipe for a tasty brain-friendly avocado butter
Whenever I’m at an event or teaching classes, one food on the MIND diet’s list of 5 foods to avoid always elicits a collective groan. I’m talking about butter—the delicious, creamy, and unapologetically full-fat ingredient championed by Julia Child.
The MIND diet recommends less than 1 tablespoon of butter a day. That’s about a pat, barely enough to smear on a piece of toast. It’s one of the most austere recommendations in a dietary pattern that is otherwise quite flexible.
Butter had a prominent place on my kitchen counter pre-MIND diet (before 2015)—a topped-off ceramic butter bell was always at the ready for smearing on toast and crackers. Now there’s a good bottle of EVOO instead and the whole family has been re-trained to use it frequently and liberally. The few sticks of butter I keep on hand live in the freezer. Because I use so much less than before, I splurge on the grass-fed butters from Europe like Kerrygold and Plugra.
Eating butter—and a lot of it—is so ingrained in our culture that many can’t imagine how they would cut back or give it up. I get it. I love butter, too! But I agree with the MIND diet’s butter guidelines. I also believe it’s not necessary to give it up entirely.
Here’s why it’s important to cut back on butter for better brain health:
Butter is a major source of saturated fat in the American diet. A brain healthy diet is rich in unsaturated fats, but keeps the saturated ones under 5%. At 7 grams per tablespoon, butter clocks in at two-thirds total daily sat fat consumption in a brain healthy diet. Saturated fat consumption is linked to poor cognitive health with aging.
A high ratio of unsaturated fats (mono- and polyunsaturated fats) to saturated ones is linked to better brain health. In the Chicago Health and Aging Project study, those who consumed the most unsaturated fats, in relation to saturated ones, had a statistically significant 70% reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s over 3.9 years.
The more saturated fat in the diet, the greater likelihood low density lipoprotein (LDL) goes up. Elevated LDL is an important risk factor for Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
Walter Willet, MD and his colleagues at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health looked at the impact of swapping in olive oil for butter, mayonnaise, and other dairy fats in this study of over 100,000 participants. This simple EVOO swap lowered the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, and more. In fact, replacing just 10 grams (about 2½ teaspoons) of a saturated fat food with olive oil daily lowered the risk of mortality (meaning dying from any cause) by 34%. This same study found that even small amounts of daily olive oil consumption (about 2 teaspoons) lowered the risk of dying from a neurodegenerative disease by 29%. I really enjoyed listening to Dr. Willett discuss this and much more on this podcast episode.
The take-away: Small swaps in your fat intake yield significant gains.
Low Sat Fat Doesn’t Mean No Sat Fat
It’s worth mentioning that cutting back on all foods high in saturated fat—not just butter, but also red meat, cheese, fast and fried foods, and ultra processed foods—is a boon for brain and heart health. Cutting out sat fat foods entirely, however, can also put your health at risk. In this study from Japan, a population that consumes very few dairy products, an extremely low amount of saturated fat in the diet was associated with a greater risk of hemorraghic stroke.
Not all saturated fat foods, however, should be considered the same degree of bad for the brain. Grass-fed butter, for example, is a better choice than most processed butter-like products. Enjoying a small portion of good-quality meat is less brain-harmful than consuming processed meats (like jerky, meat sticks, sausage, hot dogs, and bacon). Real cheese—such as aged gouda or Parmigiano-Reggiano—is better for you than single-wrapped American slices, tubs of cream cheese, queso dip in a jar, or any other processed cheese-like product.
You can still follow the MIND diet—and reap its long term benefits—and include small amounts of these better-for-you saturated fat foods while keeping your ratio of unsaturated to saturated fats high.
When it comes to butter, less is definitely more. Try thinking of butter as a special treat, like a bowl of gelato or a slice of triple-cream Brie, and I guarantee you’ll appreciate it even more.
The MIND diet is the most successful diet studied for its ability to impact the risk of Alzheimer’s.
It bears repeating that close adherence to the MIND diet reduced Alzheimer’s risk by 53% after 4.5 years. This doesn’t stem from one food guideline, such as reducing butter, but rather the dietary pattern as a whole that is rich in the foods proven to be neuroprotective (berries, leafy greens, vegetables, whole grains, fish and seafood, nuts and seeds, extra-virgin olive oil) while limiting foods shown to be brain-harming. A brain-healthy diet combined with other brain healthy habits, like getting enough exercise and good-quality sleep, limiting alcohol, not smoking, and strengthening cognitive reserve may reduce risk by 60% or more.
The MIND diet has other documented perks, too. Close adherence to the guidelines may reduce the risk of Parkinson's, breast cancer, open-angle glaucoma, and dying by any cause—a whopping 37% reduction in mortality rates.
Ideas For Swapping Olive Oil for Butter
So, what’s a butter lover to do? In my mind, limiting butter is wise especially if you are trying to get your LDL down. For many, however, It may not be necessary to completely eliminate it. My strategy is to swap in extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) for butter in almost all baked goods, like these cookies, these brownies, and this cake, as well as most of the recipes in my book. In this fruit crisp, I combined olive oil and butter to get the texture of the topping just right because it didn’t brown well using just olive oil.
What About Vegan Butters?
Vegan butters have come a long way over the years, and some of the more expensive brands (like Miyoko’s) using cultured cashew milk are delicious. These butters are still mostly saturated fat, though, and include many artificial ingredients. Unless you avoid all animal products, a small amount of good-quality grass-fed butter is a less processed and brain-friendlier choice.
Better-For-You Compound Butters
Making compound butters is another butter-reducing strategy to have in your repertoire. Mixing good-quality butter with brain-healthy ingredients like anchovies, extra-virgin olive oil, or avocados shifts the fat profile to mostly monounsaturated scale. Not only are these butters better for you, they combine a touch of buttery indulgence with bright citrusy or earthy umami flavors. They enhance the enjoyment of many other MIND diet foods, such as fish, chicken, vegetables, and whole grains, too. One of my favorite butter hybrids is a recipe that got passed down to me from my mom: Avocado Butter.
Recipe: Avocado Butter
