Margarine vs. butter: which is healthier?

Saturated fat: which has more, butter or margarine?

Butter is made by churning cream and removing the buttermilk, so it contains mostly saturated fat – around 50 percent. One teaspoon contains 5g saturated fat, which is a large proportion of our daily recommended intake of 20g for women and 30g for men. Eating too much saturated fat can raise bad (non-HDL) cholesterol, which can increase your risk of heart attack or stroke.

Margarines are made from combining vegetable oils such as sunflower, olive and rapeseed. Some may contain small amounts of palm or coconut oil, both saturated fats, to make them more solid. But most standard margarines are high in unsaturated fats and at least 50 percent lower in saturated fat than butter. Check the food labels and choose ones that are lowest in saturated fat.

Replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fats can help lower your cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of heart and circulatory diseases.

What about ghee, grass-fed butter, and vegan butter? Are they healthier?

Ghee, used mostly in Asian cooking, is made by heating butter to remove the water and milk solids, so it is more concentrated in fat. This means it is higher in fat and saturated fat than regular butter.

Grass-fed butter is made from cows that are mostly fed with grass rather than grain. Although it contains more vitamin A, beta carotene and omega-3 fatty acids than regular butter, it still contains the same amount of saturated fat.

Vegan butter is made with plant oils. This means it is lactose- and dairy-free and suitable for vegans. But to make vegan butter solid at room temperature, like butter, saturated fats such as coconut or palm oil, are also added. Nutritionally, vegan butter is not different from butter as it contains 80 percent fat and nearly 50 percent saturated fat.

Are there trans fats in margarines?

Older margarines used to contain artificially produced trans fats. Like saturated fat, these fats raise your ‘bad ’cholesterol, but they also lower ‘good’ (HDL) cholesterol – doubly bad for your heart. Now there are new ways of making margarines without forming any trans fats, so there’s no need to be worried about trans fats in margarines.

What about the salt in butter and margarines?

It is not just saturated fat you need to think about when choosing a fat spread. If you are using fat spreads regularly, they can make a considerable contribution to your daily salt intake and your risk of having high blood pressure.

Traditionally salt is added into butter during the making process to enhance the flavours and act as a preservative. They are red (high) for salt on labels. Unsalted versions will be green or low in salt.

Margarines can also have differing amounts of added salt and most are amber (medium) for salt. So, in addition to saturated fat, it’s worth checking the nutrition label to see which ones have the least salt.

Is it better to use butter as margarines are more processed?

Both are a processed food.

According to the most-used classification system of processed foods, butter is considered a processed culinary ingredient – milk is churned to form butter and it can have added salt.

Margarine is considered an ultra-processed food as it can have extra ingredients added during production such as emulsifiers and artificial colours.

Numerous studies have linked ultra-processed foods with poor health including obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. However, the research is still not clear that we need to avoid all ultra-processed foods.

Some ultra-processed foods like margarines, breakfast cereals and wholegrain bread still contain some nutrients that have benefits. Margarine has a healthy fat profile, since it is high in unsaturated fat and lower in saturated fat than butter, which can help lower blood cholesterol levels.

Should you use butter or margarine (or something else)?

Current advice remains that it is better for our hearts to replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats. Making the simple swap from butter to margarine spreads is one way to do this.

However, whether you choose butter or margarine does depend on your own health needs and how healthy your overall diet is. If you have high cholesterol and/or a diet high in saturated fat from other sources, such as fatty meats and processed foods like pastries, cakes and biscuits, then the swap from butter to margarine is a simple and important one to make. If you are lightly buttering your morning toast and the rest of your diet is healthy, then using butter is unlikely to be a problem.

Whatever you choose, all types of fats and oils are high in calories. A tablespoon is over 100 calories, so use them sparingly.

Alternatives to butter and margarine

There are plenty of other lower saturated fat options to try if you want a butter or margarine substitute:

• When cooking choose unsaturated oils such as olive oil, rapeseed oil or sunflower oil. They can be used for dipping or drizzling over bread, and on salads, too.
• If you bake a lot, using an unsaturated spread or oil instead of butter would be better. Just make sure the spread you use is suitable for baking and if using oil, use recipes that are designed for oil as it will alter the balance of the mix.
• Smashed avocado is a creamy alternative as a topping on bread or toast. It contains mostly unsaturated fat, as well as fibre, vitamins and minerals. Keep to half an avocado as your portion size.
• Nut and seed butters are also a healthy alternative topping for bread or as dips. Although they have a similar calorie content to butter and margarine, most of the fat comes from unsaturated fats. Make sure you choose those that are 100 percent nuts, with no added salt, sugar or palm oil and keep to the recommended portion size of 30g or two heaped teaspoons.
• Hummus is an easy swap for butter, margarines or mayonnaise in sandwiches. It is low in saturated fat and a great source of fibre and plant-based protein. It’s easy to make too: why not try this beetroot-hummus?

What to read next…