This Food Swap Could Cut Your Risk of Early Death by 17% | Dr Matthew Nagra

The Proof with Simon Hill

Simon Hill

Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Self-improvement, Education

4.9 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today’s episode Dr Matthew Nagra returns to The Proof to break down a new JAMA Internal Medicine study on butter, plant-based oils, and mortality. Over 200,000 Americans were followed for 33 years — so what did the research really find? We unpack the study’s most talked-about claims, including whether swapping just 10g of butter for plant-based oil could lower your risk of early death. Plus, we dive into the bigger picture: Why fats are so polarising, the debate around seed oils, and how to navigate nutrition science in an era of misinformation. Specifically, we cover: Inside a Controversial New Study on Butter and Plant Oils (00:00) How the 33-Year Nutrition Study Was Conducted (00:47) What Observational Studies Can (and Can’t) Tell Us (03:01) The Truth About Food Frequency Questionnaires (08:03) Surprising Patterns in Butter and Oil Consumption (17:52) Why One Common Oil Performed Better Than Expected (22:50) Are We Misunderstanding Nutrition Guidelines? (26:13) What Happens When Oils Are Heated Over and Over (28:28) Do Oils Measure Up to Whole Food Fat Sources? (31:04) The Great Oil Debate: A Preview and Reflection (34:07) A Smarter Way to Navigate Conflicting Health Advice (43:40) Want to support the show? The best way to support the show is to use the products and services offered by our sponsors. To check them out and enjoy great savings, visit theproof.com/friends. You can also support the show by leaving a review on the Apple Podcast app and sharing your favourite episodes with friends and family. This episode is brought to you by: 38TERA Consider 38TERA's DMN prebiotic supplement a daily multivitamin for your gut. Formulated by yours truly and gastroenterologist Dr Will Bulsiewicz. Use code THEPROOF for a discount at checkout. Momentous My go-to supplement brand for protein and creatine is Momentous. Get 20% off your first purchase by using the code LIVINGPROOF at checkout at livemomentous.com Shopify Shopify, the world's leading e-commerce platform, helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet’s best-converting check out–up to 36% better compared to other leading e-commerce platforms. To boost your conversion rate, and grow your business, sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at shopify.com/proof. Birch Sleep deeply and wake up refreshed with a Birch Natural Mattress, combining premium natural materials with unbeatable comfort. Rest easy with a 100-night trial and 25-year warranty. Get 20% off sitewide and 2 free Eco-Rest Pillows at birchliving.com/simonhill. Eimele Eimele Essential 8 is a comprehensive multivitamin that is scientifically formulated to complement your plant-rich diet, increase and sustain your energy, and support the immune system, as well as heart and brain health. Follow [this link](https://eimele.com/essential-8/15660280.html.) for 20% off one-time purchases and subscriptions. WHOOP Whoop, the most advanced fitness and health wearable available. Your personalised fitness and health coach to recover faster, sleep better, and train smarter. Claim your first month free on join.whoop.com/simon. Simon Hill, MSc, BSc (Hons) • Creator of theproof.com • Host of The Proof with Simon Hill • Author of The Proof is in the Plants Subscribe & Connect: • YouTube • Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Instagram: @simonhill • Twitter: @theproof • Facebook: The Proof with Simon Hill Nourish your gut with my Plant-Based Ferments Guide and download my Two-Week Meal Plan.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is proudly brought to you by Emil.
0:07.7	My favorite multivitamin by a long stretch is Emile's essential eight.
0:12.7	The right nutrients and the right doses to support a healthy, plant-rich diet.
0:17.8	Optimize nutrient status and leave you feeling at your best. Take your health to another
0:22.6	level with Emile's evidence-based essential eight multivitamin by going to emil.com forward
0:28.5	slash Simon for 20% off. That's E-I-M-E-E-F-Simon for 20% off.
0:49.3	This episode is proudly brought to you by WOOP, my go-to wearable device for health optimization.
0:59.0	WIP captures important health data such as heart rate and heart rate variability while you're awake and asleep and uses that data to coach you towards your best performance.
1:05.9	If you want to start tracking your sleep, exercise and recovery, simply go to theproof.com forward slash friends.
1:08.7	That's theproof.com forward slash friends. And you'll find a link to whoops website that gives you
1:11.5	40 US dollars off an annual or 24 month membership.
1:20.6	So there's a new study I'm holding it here in my hands published in Jama Internal Medicine
1:27.4	and it's titled butter and plant-based oils in my hands, published in Jama Internal Medicine.
1:33.0	And it's titled Butter and Plant-Based Oils, Intake and Mortality.
1:38.4	And as expected by that title, it is causing quite the surer online.
1:46.0	And you've been, I'd say, relatively vocal about not only this study, but this topic over the years on social media, trying to communicate the science as effectively as possible, around this topic of plant-based versus animal fats.
1:55.0	I brought you on to give the listeners a bit of an overview of what this study set out to research and what they
2:02.6	found. So perhaps you can start with just a very quick overview of that. What was the kind of
2:08.3	research question here? Yeah, so they were looking at the impact of plant oils both, you know,
2:15.4	as a group as well as individual oils. They also did an analysis
2:19.5	for plant-based oils aside from olive oil because olive oil is maybe a little bit of a special
2:24.7	case in the way that it is viewed and the type of people that might opt for that version
	...

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