There's a new food trend that's about to take off on social media platforms, and even if you haven't seen videos of people nibbling on whole butter sticks, the puzzle algorithm will still politely overflow your sight. For those who don't know, it's hard to understand. If, like us, biting into a large chunk of raw butter is extremely unappetizing. However, proponents claim that this has various health benefits, so we thought it was time to take a closer look at the trend.
One thing is clear: we don't want to blame butter. For those who choose to include animal products in their diet and don't have to steer clear of dairy, butter is one of life's greatest pleasures. It melts into hot bread or baked cakes and breads, or even poured over sizzling steaks, and there's hardly a meal that can't be lifted by butter.
But just because it works wonders in cooking, that doesn't mean it's wise to swallow whole butter in one bite. Anyone who goes too far understands this truth.
There was a time when butter was seen as the scourge of the Western diet. From the mid-20th century onwards, saturated fats became the public enemy of health-conscious consumers, and many people began to opt for alternatives like soft marlene. However, these products contain high levels of hyaluronic acid – a partially hydrogenated oil – and emerging research suggests that these ingredients can have alarming effects on cardiovascular and metabolic health.
Countries are starting to take action to ban artificial trans fats, and studies have shown that butter may not be so bad at first. Consumers are moving away from low-fat dairy alternatives in favor of traditional butter, whole milk and full-fat yogurt.
As the New York Times columnist put it, butter is back. But do some people go too far and just swap one fad for another? What motivates people to stop thinking of butter as a way to enhance the taste of other ingredients and become a nutritious snack?
It's a leap from swapping ghee for butter to baking to chewing directly on a butter stick dipped in ketchup, but that's exactly what TikTok influencer buttergirll did in one of her posts.
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This is just one of the many videos in which the creator tastes butter with various spices that has given her 1.4 million followers on the platform. And buttergirll isn't alone, as many people post videos of people munching on butter and eating them, and they've amassed a lot of hits on all major social platforms.
Not everyone is making bold claims about the health benefits of this habit, and some people (albeit unbelievably) just enjoy the taste. But there are also those who believe that eating raw butter is a path to top health.
As an example, butter_dawg_ claims in an explanatory video that he works better eating one stick of butter a day.
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Fat is an integral part of a healthy diet. Some vitamins like A, D, and E can only be properly absorbed with the help of fats.
But despite the fact that health authorities are no longer emphasizing low-fat diets, there are still differences between saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. It is recommended that saturated fat intake should be moderate, and unsaturated fats should be chosen whenever possible – this is one of the principles that science supports the Mediterranean diet.
Proponents of the ketogenic diet are also often iron fans of butter. The ketogenic diet has been an authority in the health field for years, and many people claim that low-carb diets have helped them lose weight and stay in shape, but the truth is just as often shaken as they say.
Another increasingly popular low-carb program is the meat eater diet, which may be more carbohydrate-restrictive, limiting followers to a diet that only contains animal products. Butter is also loved by this group, and while there seems to be a strong opinion about which butter is the best choice, grass-fed butter seems to stand out for its supposedly superior nutritional content.
Another claim about butter is that it promotes digestive health. Butter is rich in a long-chain fatty acid called butyrate, a substance that some studies have linked to improving conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and has beneficial anti-inflammatory effects for people with Crohn's disease.
But these types of studies only looked at the fatty acid lipotatamic acid itself — they didn't give humans a lot of butter and see how it improved symptoms. Many IBS patients report that fatty foods are the trigger for the disease, so these people are less likely to enjoy nibbling on a stick of high-quality grass-fed butter. Clearly, nibbling on raw butter has been scientifically proven to promote digestive health.
Like many food-related fashions, there is no set pattern for butter consumption. Each person's calorie needs vary depending on their lifestyle, animal product preference, and different food sensitivities or triggers that cause them will vary from person to person.
Butter can certainly be part of a healthy diet. Today, we know that eating full-fat dairy products is healthier than low-fat alternatives, but there's a big difference between slathering a little butter on your breakfast bread and packing butter sticks in your bag for afternoon pleasure.
Saturated fats are no longer part of the list of worst diets, but that doesn't mean it's the open season. It's okay to enjoy butter in moderation, but experts still believe that your cardiovascular system will thank you if you use these products more as a supplement to your daily diet.
The content of this article is intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have questions about a medical condition, always seek the advice of a qualified healthcare provider.