Total US butter consumptionDeaths from falling out of bed in the US
As Americans have consumed more butter, more of them have died falling out of bed, adding dairy's most beloved fat to the ever-expanding bed-fall correlation catalog. The coefficient is 0.984, and the butter, like every other smooth upward trend since 2005, slides perfectly into position alongside the aging population's most reliable mortality statistic. The butter softens, the body falls, and the chart records both with the greasy precision of a coefficient that has found its groove.
Butter consumption grew from about 4.6 to over 6.2 pounds per capita as nutritional science rehabilitated saturated fats. Bed-fall deaths rose with the aging population. Same seventeen years, same upward shapes, same result. The butter is not making anyone fall out of bed. The demographics are.
Seventeen years of butter and bed falls is another chapter in the bed-fall saga—a series that now includes everything from craft breweries to atmospheric CO2. The butter melts, the body falls, and the coefficient is 0.984 because the aging population is the universal correlator and butter is just along for the ride. Spread thinly.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “Total US butter consumption” vs “Deaths from falling out of bed in the US” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
