Butter or margarine – which is better for you?
By Becca Bull
Right now, butter sales are booming compared to margarine – but this hasn’t always been the story.
First invented as a cheap replacement for butter in 1869, margarine started stealing the show in the 20th century as a ‘healthier alternative’ to butter.
Butter gets a bad rap for being high in saturated fat, but margarine is an ultra-processed food (UPF), which means it could have its own drawbacks. So when it comes to which one is healthier, the answer isn’t straightforward.
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Should we be concerned about margarine being ultra processed?
Dell Stanford, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation says, “In the past, margarine was made by a process called hydrogenation, which created trans fats. These behave like saturated fats, raising your bad cholesterol (LDL). But trans fats also lower your ‘good’ cholesterol (HDL), making them doubly bad.
“Nowadays, manufacturers do things differently. They have found a way of making margarine that doesn’t produce trans fats, so you don’t need to worry about that in UK spreads anymore.”
Margarine is still ultra-processed though, and it’s common knowledge that UPFs can lead to health issues like diabetes, heart disease and obesity.
Does this mean butter is the safer bet?
It’s not so black and white as that.
As Stanford points out, “it’s not clear if it’s just the salt, fat and sugar that make UPFs bad for you, or if there’s something else about the processing that’s the problem.”
Plus, not all UPFs are created equal. Some, like brown sliced bread and baked beans, for instance, come with health benefits.
One of the concerns some people have about margarine is its additives and colourings, which Stanford says have been tested and are safe.
But what about saturated fat in butter?
“Stearic acid [a type of saturated fat] is thought to have a neutral effect on your cholesterol – this sometimes leads to misinformation that too much butter isn’t bad for you,” says Stanford. “But palmitic acid does raise your blood cholesterol – and unfortunately that’s the main form of saturated fat in butter.”
She explains there’s consistent evidence that eating too many foods high in saturated fats can raise your cholesterol levels and increase your risk of a heart attack or stroke. And butter is around 50% saturated fat.
“If you put a heaped teaspoon of butter on toast, it can contain as much as 5g of saturated fat,” says Stanford.
To put that into context, the daily recommended maximum intake of saturated fat is 30g for men and 20g for women.
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Could the movement against ultra-processed foods be linked to the rise of butter?
Are there health benefits to choosing margarine?
Stanford says there’s strong and consistent evidence that swapping saturated fats for unsaturated fats helps lower your ‘bad’ cholesterol. And that’s important information, seeing as an estimated 50% of UK adults have raised cholesterol levels.
Margarine is usually made from unsaturated oils like rapeseed oil, olive oil and sunflower oil, meaning it can be “up to 50% lower in saturated fat than butter.” That said, ingredients and fat content varies between brands and types.
Which are the best margarines?
The answer to this really depends on your own health goals.
“When choosing your spread, check the saturated fat as well as the salt content,” says Stanford.
This is especially important if blood pressure and heart health are issues for you: “Too much salt can raise your blood pressure and increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.”
If you’re trying to drop some excess weight, looking for a lower fat spread with fewer calories could be the way to go.
There are also cholesterol lowering spreads which contain plant sterols and stanols that have been proven to help lower cholesterol.
The catch is they can be more expensive. “Plus, you have to have them every day, or they won’t work,” Stanford says. “You also need to be getting 2g of the beneficial sterols and stanols in your portion.”
Think of the bigger picture
“It’s really your overall diet that makes the difference, rather than a single food,” says Stanford.
“If you have a healthy balanced diet, are a healthy weight, don’t have raised cholesterol levels, and you aren’t getting saturated fat from other sources, then putting butter on your toast three times a week is unlikely to cause health problems.”
University College London’s Prof Anastasia Kalea agrees.
“No food stands in isolation when it comes to risks or benefits.
“Butter does have some fat-soluble vitamins – but we can get those from other foods as well. Perhaps in larger quantities, even.
“For an older person who is malnourished, underweight or does not eat enough, butter packs a lot of calories, so it would be an option to consider.”
It’s all about looking at what you eat as a whole, says Kalea.
“For instance, if a little butter (emphasis on little) helps someone enjoy more vegetables like sautéed greens or roasted carrots – it might be a worthwhile trade-off. In this case, the nutritional benefit of eating more plants could outweigh the small amount of added saturated fat.”
All that said, increasing your butter intake isn’t recommended, unless you’ve been given personalised advice from someone in healthcare.
Originally published November 2025
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