Best butter and spreads for high cholesterol: 26 ranked

26 butters and spreads ranked by saturated fat

Every product is compared on 1 level tablespoon (14g), the US label serving. A thin spread on a slice of UK toast is nearer 10g, so take off about a quarter for that: 10g of butter has about 5.2 to 5.3g of saturated fat, and 10g of Flora Light about 0.6g. Products with added plant sterols or stanols are marked under their name. Bands: Better 2g or less per serving, Occasional over 2g up to 4.5g, Treat over 4.5g.

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Nutrition data from Open Food Facts, available under the Open Database License (ODbL). Product names link to each product's Open Food Facts page.

What the ranking shows

• Butter is about half saturated fat. Every butter we compared, from Land O'Lakes and Kerrygold to Anchor and Lurpak, had 50 to 53g of saturated fat per 100g, or 7.0 to 7.4g per tablespoon. Two tablespoons in a day uses up more than the whole 13g limit.
• Light spreads have the least. They are mostly water and vegetable oil. Flora Light, Country Crock Light, Smart Balance Heart Right Light and Bertolli Light all had 0.9 to 1.2g per tablespoon, and a third to a half of the calories of butter.
• "Spreadable" butter is still mostly butter. Anchor Spreadable (50% butter, 29% rapeseed oil) had 3.9g and Lurpak Spreadable (64% butter) 4.9g, roughly half to two-thirds of plain butter. Lurpak Lighter, made with rapeseed oil, milk and water, had 2.8g.
• "Plant butter" isn't automatically low. Country Crock Plant Butter with Sea Salt had 5.0g per tablespoon and the olive oil version 4.0g, more than most tub margarines. Earth Balance Original had 3.5g.
• Palm and coconut oil push spreads up. Most spreads include some palm oil to make them firm, and Clover (palm oil and buttermilk) and Bertolli Original (rapeseed, palm and olive oil) had about 2.5g. Flora ProActiv uses some coconut oil, yet still had only 1.7g.
• US labels round. US Nutrition Facts give saturated fat per serving in whole or half grams, so US spreads show neat figures like 1g or 2.5g. UK labels give per 100g figures to one decimal place.

What to look for

1. Saturated fat per tablespoon (or per 10g). Aim for 2g or less per tablespoon. On UK packs, compare the saturates per 100g: light spreads are around 6 to 9g, butter over 50g.
2. An oil base of rapeseed (canola), sunflower or olive oil. These are mostly unsaturated. The first oil in the ingredients is usually the main one. Our cooking oil guide compares oils, butter and lard for cooking.
3. Plant sterols or stanols, if you'll use them daily. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) accepts that 1.5 to 3g a day of plant sterols or stanols lowers LDL cholesterol by about 7 to 12.5% within 2 to 3 weeks. That means eating the spread every day, usually 2 to 3 servings, with meals. See below.
4. No partially hydrogenated oils. These were the main source of trans fats in old-style margarine. They are no longer allowed in US foods, and UK spread makers stopped using them, but check older or imported products.

Do plant sterol spreads work?

Plant sterols and stanols are found in small amounts in vegetable oils, nuts and grains. Added in larger amounts, they block some cholesterol from being absorbed in the gut. Four products in our table have them: Flora ProActiv (9% plant sterol esters) and Benecol Original (6.6g plant stanols per 100g) in the UK, and Smart Balance Heart Right Light and Benecol Buttery Spread in the US.

• How much: EFSA's approved claim is for 1.5 to 3g of sterols or stanols a day. From Benecol's label, three 10g servings give about 2g.
• What to expect: about 7 to 12.5% lower LDL, on top of other changes, within 2 to 3 weeks. The effect stops if you stop eating them.
• What they don't do: trials show they lower LDL, but there's no trial showing they prevent heart attacks or strokes. NICE, which sets UK guidance, doesn't recommend them to prevent heart disease, and they are not a substitute for a statin your doctor has prescribed.
• Who shouldn't use them: UK and EU labels say they aren't intended for people who don't need to lower their cholesterol, and may not be suitable for pregnant or breastfeeding women or children under 5.

Our guide to cholesterol supplements compares plant sterols with fibre, red yeast rice and other options.

Easy swaps

• Butter on toast (5.2g per 10g) → Flora Light (0.6g per 10g) or Bertolli Light
• Lurpak Spreadable (4.9g per tbsp) → Lurpak Lighter (2.8g) if you want a butter taste
• Country Crock Plant Butter (5.0g) → Country Crock Light (1g)
• Butter for frying → a little olive or rapeseed oil (about 2g of saturated fat per tablespoon or less)
• Butter for baking → a hard spread or oil made for baking; our baking guide has three recipes, and our biscuits ranking shows how much butter adds to shop-bought shortbread

How we ranked them

We picked best-selling butters, margarines and plant spreads in the US and UK, and took each one's nutrition data from Open Food Facts, an open database built from product labels. To catch mistakes, we compared each product's current record with an earlier copy and left out any where the saturated fat, fat or sugar didn't match or were missing. Land O'Lakes Butter with Canola Oil, Promise and Country Crock Original were left out because no record we found had complete figures.

All products are compared on 14g, calculated from the per 100g values. Percentages are of 13g, the American Heart Association's suggested daily limit for saturated fat on a 2,000 calorie diet. The NHS upper limit is 20g a day for women and 30g for men. The full dataset and the script that builds it are kept with this page and refreshed periodically.

Butter, margarine and cholesterol: quick answers

Is butter bad for cholesterol?

Butter is about half saturated fat, the fat that raises LDL cholesterol most. The butters we compared had 7.0 to 7.4g of saturated fat per tablespoon, more than half of a 13g daily limit. The NHS advises swapping butter for spreads made from vegetable oils such as olive, rapeseed or sunflower. A thin scrape now and then is fine; it is the daily amount that adds up.

What is the best margarine for high cholesterol?

In our comparison, light vegetable-oil spreads had the least saturated fat: Flora Light (0.9g per tablespoon), Country Crock Light, Smart Balance Heart Right Light and Benecol Buttery Spread (1g each) and Bertolli Light (1.2g). Look for rapeseed, sunflower or olive oil near the top of the ingredients and 2g or less of saturated fat per tablespoon.

Does Benecol work?

Benecol contains plant stanols, which reduce how much cholesterol the gut absorbs. The European Food Safety Authority accepts that 1.5 to 3g a day lowers LDL cholesterol by about 7 to 12.5% within 2 to 3 weeks, eaten with meals every day. Benecol Original spread lists 6.6g of stanols per 100g, so three 10g servings give about 2g. There is no trial evidence that it prevents heart attacks, and it does not replace prescribed medicine.

Is Flora ProActiv better than Benecol?

They work in a similar way: Flora ProActiv adds plant sterols and Benecol adds plant stanols, and both lower LDL by a similar amount at the same daily dose. In our table, Benecol Original had 1.4g of saturated fat per tablespoon and Flora ProActiv 1.7g. Choose the one you will eat every day.

Is spreadable butter better than butter for cholesterol?

A little. Spreadable butters are blended with rapeseed oil, so Anchor Spreadable had 3.9g of saturated fat per tablespoon against 7.3g for Anchor butter, and Lurpak Spreadable 4.9g against 7.4g. Lurpak Lighter had 2.8g. Most vegetable-oil spreads had under 2g.

Is plant butter healthier than butter?

It has less saturated fat than dairy butter but more than most margarines. Country Crock Plant Butter with Sea Salt had 5.0g per tablespoon and the olive oil version 4.0g, against about 7g for butter. Earth Balance Original had 3.5g. A light tub spread had about 1g.

Sources

• Open Food Facts (product nutrition data, ODbL)
• NHS: Fat, the facts
• NHS: How to lower your cholesterol
• American Heart Association: Saturated fat
• EFSA: Scientific opinion on plant sterols and stanols and lowering LDL cholesterol (2012)
• NICE: Cardiovascular disease: risk assessment and reduction, including lipid modification (NG238)
• UK Department of Health: Front of pack nutrition labelling guidance

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