- Lucy Bassett
- Jan 13
- 3 min read
If you follow nutrition news, you’d be forgiven for feeling completely confused. One week butter is back, the next it’s “bad for you” again. Recently, an article claimed that butter is harmful and that seed oils are the healthier option — and for many people, this just added to the overwhelm.
As a nutritional therapist, I see this confusion all the time. People genuinely want to eat well, but they’re bombarded with headlines, studies and expert opinions that often contradict one another. It’s exhausting — and it pulls us further away from something very important: context, common sense, and nature.
The problem with headlines
Nutrition science is complex. No single study, article or headline tells the whole story. Yet modern nutrition messaging often strips away nuance in favour of simple, clickable conclusions. Foods are labelled “good” or “bad” without considering history, processing, or how humans have actually eaten over time.
This is especially true when it comes to fats.
Butter vs seed oils: a question of history
Butter has been part of traditional human diets for thousands of years. Across many cultures, natural animal fats were prized for nourishment, fertility, brain health and strength — long before modern chronic disease became common.
Seed oils such as sunflower, rapeseed (canola), corn and soy are a very different story. They have only been widely consumed for just over 100 years and rely on industrial processing, high heat and chemical extraction. These are not foods our ancestors would have recognised.
Nature doesn’t produce clear bottles of vegetable oil — factories do.
A GAPS perspective on fats
From a GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) perspective, fats are not something to fear — they are foundational. Natural animal fats help heal and seal the gut lining, support bile flow, nourish the nervous system, and allow us to absorb fat-soluble nutrients essential for hormone balance, immunity and brain health.
Highly processed seed oils, on the other hand, are often difficult for compromised guts to tolerate. Their unstable structure and tendency to oxidise can place extra stress on digestion and detoxification pathways — particularly for people dealing with inflammation, autoimmune conditions, skin issues, fatigue or mental health challenges.
In practice, I frequently see people feel calmer, more stable and more nourished when they remove industrial seed oils and return to traditional fats.
Why context matters
When reading nutrition advice, it’s also important to understand where the information comes from. Zoe, for example, is not a neutral public health body. It is a venture-capital-funded company, meaning it has received significant funding from private investors whose aim is growth and profit.
Much of the research Zoe promotes is funded or conducted by the company itself, with founders and lead researchers involved. That doesn’t automatically make the research wrong — but it does mean there are commercial interests at play, and the conclusions should be read with that context in mind.
This isn’t about attacking individuals or companies. It’s about learning to read information critically rather than accepting headlines at face value.
A different perspective
Many researchers and clinicians who study traditional diets and ancestral nutrition present a very different view. Dr Weston A. Price, Sally Fallon, Cate Shanahan, Nina Teicholz, Chris Masterjohn and Paul Saladino have all highlighted the value of traditional fats and raised concerns about industrial seed oils.
Their work consistently points us back to whole, minimally processed foods — foods that humans have thrived on for generations.
Trust nature
In GAPS, we don’t chase trends. We focus on real, nutrient-dense foods that support the gut, the brain and the immune system together.
Nature is not confused. Nature doesn’t change its mind every decade. Real foods don’t need clever marketing or constant rebranding.
Butter, eggs, meat, bone broth and fermented foods are shaped by nature and tradition, not industry. When eaten in their natural form, they nourish, regulate and support the body in ways ultra-processed substitutes never can.
Nutrition science is complex, and no single study or headline tells the whole story — but nature has always been consistent.
A final thought
We live in an age of information overload. My encouragement is simple: be curious, be questioning, and don’t hand over your trust too easily.
Look beyond headlines. Ask who funded the research. Consider history. And whenever possible, return to foods that have stood the test of time.
Nature doesn’t lie — and it’s never wrong.
Further reading & influences
Dr Weston A. Price – Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
Sally Fallon & Mary Enig – Nourishing Traditions (Weston A. Price Foundation)
Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride – Gut and Psychology Syndrome & Gut and Physiology Syndrome
Nina Teicholz – The Big Fat Surprise
Dr Cate Shanahan – Deep Nutrition
Chris Masterjohn, PhD – Educational work on fat-soluble vitamins and traditional diets