A leading heart surgeon has called for butter to be banned, saying that the move would dramatically lower the cholesterol rates of the nation and cut down the number of people developing heart disease.
Dr Shyam Kolvekar, a surgeon at University College Hospital, has said that he has grown increasingly worried about the number of patients he is seeing who need heart surgery due to a diet high in saturated fats, including patients has young as 30.
A saturated-fat heavy diet increased cholesterol dramatically, which itself causes fatty deposits to build up which can eventually block the flow of blood to the heart, causing heart attacks and strokes. Each year cardiovascular disease causes 198,000 deaths in Britain each year and costs the economy £7.9 billion.
Dr. Kolvekar said that if the UK were to ban butter and use a replacement, low-cholesterol spread instead, the average daily fat intake would be reduced by 8 grams, or 40% of a woman’s Guideline Daily Fat amount.
The Daily Mail however published a quote from the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who is famous for using butter fairly frequently in his cooking. He apparently doesn’t like the whole kind of "food police" and pointed out that butter can be eaten in moderation.
Dr. Kolvekar’s rather militant views on the creamy spread might be explained by the fact that his comments were distributed to the press by KTB, Flora margarine spread’s PR company. They say that he is not receiving any payment however and that he genuinely does believe butter should be banned.
As for us, while the doctor absolutely has a point in saying that many people are developing heart problems due to ‘lifestyle choices’ and we firmly believe the nation needs to pay far more attention to diet, moderation is the key. Processed and junk foods are a far bigger threat than a bit of Lurpack from time to time.