Butter or margarine? Nutritionist Brooke Kelly talks health benefits of each

Which kind of butter is best to spread on your toast - regular or spreadable? Is margarine supreme? Nutritionist Brooke Kelly breaks down the differences.

More than 12.3 million Australians buy butter, margarine or another type of butter blend/dairy spread in an average month, but which one is best for your health?

Research from Roy Morgan found that Aussies are increasingly choosing to buy butter over margarine and dairy spreads, with 8.6 million Australians buying butter in an average month in 2018, compared to 5 million Australians who bought margarine and 2.6 million Australians who bought a dairy spread.

But is butter good for your health?

Butter’s rival, margarine, has been marketed as the healthier option due to the fact it has less saturated fat than butter and contains ingredients that can help lower cholesterol.

But nutritionist Brooke Kelly said those claims did not necessarily mean margarine was a better overall option for health.

Ms Kelly breaks down the differences and health benefits of butter, margarine and dairy spreads.

Margarine vs. butter: What’s the difference?

The difference between butter and margarine is how they’re made and what they’re made of, Ms Kelly said.

“Margarine is made by hydrogenating vegetable oil,” she said.

Hydrogenation is a process where manufacturers add hydrogen to a liquid fat, such as vegetable oil, to turn it into a solid fat at room temperature.

In Australia, our most commonly used oilseed crops to produce vegetable oil are canola, cottonseed and sunflower.

“Hydrogenation creates a synthetic reaction that breaks down the bonds of the oils to make it into a spreadable kind of fat,” Ms Kelly said.

“So basically, margarine is a spreadable vegetable oil.”

During the hydrogenation process, trans fats – which are very high in omega six – are introduced.

“Too much omega six throws off the balance of omega three and in the human body, we always want to have more omega three because that is our anti-inflammatory pathway,” Ms Kelly said.

“A lot of the foods we eat are very high in omega six, so we already have quite high levels of it in the body.

“So adding margarine to your diet can actually contribute to the load of omega six that we have, and increase inflammation in the body.

“That potentially can contribute to disease.”

Margarines also tend to have a longer ingredient list than butter, which signals a more complex processing procedure.

In comparison, butter is simple to make – butter can be made at home but margarine can’t – and its ingredients list is small: cream from milk and sometimes salt.

While butter is demonised for its saturated fats, Ms Kelly said that small amounts are OK.

“If you’re eating a balanced diet – adequate amounts of protein, carbohydrates, fibre, healthy fats – using a tablespoon or two of butter in your cooking, in the context of that diet, it’s within balance,” she said.

“Using it sparingly on your toast or in your cooking, there shouldn’t be anything to be concerned about.”

A slice of bread with butter.

What about spreadable butter and dairy spreads?

Spreadable butter is similar to margarine in that it has vegetable oils in it.

You can make spreadable butter at home by combining butter with an oil of your choosing.

However, if you’re choosing between a spreadable butter and a regular butter, the latter is best, Ms Kelly said.

“Although the vegetable oils in spreadable butter are not hydrogenated, like the ones in many margarines, they’re still contributing to an excess of omega six in the body, which contributes to inflammation,” she said.

Additionally, additives like emulsifiers that are added to some spreadable butters may not be great for health, Ms Kelly said.

Emulsifiers are used to mix two substances together that would ordinarily separate – like oil and water.

“We still need a lot more research to clarify whether this is something that people do need to be concerned about, but there is some early research to show that additives such as emulsifiers may disrupt the gut microbiome by changing the composition of good bacteria, which actually keeps our gut healthy,” Ms Kelly said.

“And we do know now how important our gut health is for our entire health.”

To make butter spreadable, store it at room temperature in a butter dish.

What about spreads that lower cholesterol, are olive oil-based or salt-reduced?

While the plant sterols added to margarines can help to lower cholesterol, Ms Kelly said it’s better to get plant sterols from whole foods instead.

“Some really great examples of phytosterols (plant sterols) that you can get in your diet are in things like nuts,” she said.

She also suggested flax seeds, wheat germs, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, red onions, spinach and berries.

Ms Kelly added that if you have high cholesterol it was important to assess what other factors were contributing to that.

“You’re always better off looking at the root cause of why you have elevated cholesterol,” she said.

“Obviously, your diet plays a big role in that, so I look at the kind of fats people are eating and encourage them to remove as many processed foods from their diet as they can.”

When it comes to salt reduced or olive oil blends, Ms Kelly said while one promoted benefit might be good for your health, it’s important to weigh up the product as a whole.

“A salt reduced spread could be good for someone who needed to watch their salt intake in their diet, but in saying that, the additives in those spreads are also not so great for you – just because something salt reduced doesn’t necessarily make it better for you,’ she said.

“And just because something’s got olive oil in it doesn’t necessarily make it better for you either, because, especially if you look at the olive oil blends, they often contain a vegetable oil as well, which kind of defeats the whole purpose,” she said.