Adding fat to food is often what gives it flavor. It makes meals richer, keeps baked goods moist, and makes for flavorful sauces and salad dressings. But it turns out that one simple dietary swap could help you lower your risk of death by 17%, according to a study just published in JAMA Internal Medicine—and it’s all about fat.
Researchers from Mass General Brigham, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard analyzed diet and health data over a 33-year period from over 220,000 U.S. adults and found that higher intake of plant-based oils—especially soybean, canola, and olive oil, but not corn or safflower oil—was associated with lower total, cancer, and cardiovascular disease mortality. Butter intake was associated with increased risk of total mortality and cancer mortality.
