Butter or Margarine: Which Is Best?

It would be best to go without either. For many people, though, eating that morning bagel or English muffin without butter or margarine is almost impossible. So, if you want to have the healthier of the two, which one should you choose?

Both butter and margarine have the same number of calories. Butter - made from animal fats - is loaded with saturated fats. Saturated fats raise cholesterol levels, and high cholesterol can cause heart attacks. Margarine, on the other hand, is made from vegetable oil and contains less saturated fat. The trade-off, though, is that most margarine (especially the stick variety) is high in trans fats. There are now many reformulated trans-fat-free margarine on the market, such as SmartBalance® and Promise® brands.

Trans fats

Trans fats are made through a process called hydrogenation, which turns liquid vegetable oils into solid fats. This gives foods like cookies, crackers and cakes a better flavor and texture. It also gives them a longer shelf life. The problem with trans fats is that they raise LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels and lower HDL ("good") cholesterol levels.

Stick margarine is loaded with trans fats, and butter is full of saturated fats. So what should you choose? Your best bet is to go with certain types of spreadable margarines.

Try the following tips:

• When cooking, use canola oil or olive oil instead of butter or margarine.
• Choose margarines that are free of trans fats.
• Choose a light margarine that has water listed as the first ingredient. This type is lowest in saturated fat.
• If water is not listed as the first ingredient, the next-best choice is a margarine that lists liquid vegetable oil as the first ingredient.

For those with high cholesterol

If you have high cholesterol, try margarine made from plant sterols, which occur naturally in all plants. Plant sterols block your body's ability to absorb cholesterol. Sterols like pine tree oil and soy bean oil are used to make this type of margarine. Such products can lower LDL cholesterol by about 10 percent.

Use these products only if you have high cholesterol. Sterol products aren't yet recommended for children, pregnant women or people without cholesterol problems. The American Heart Association believes further studies should be done first.

Avoiding high cholesterol

To reduce your blood cholesterol levels, avoid the following:

• Butter
• Fatty meats
• Whole-milk dairy products
• Coconut and palm oils
• Deep-fried foods
• Baked goods like cookies, cakes and pastries
• Shortening or other fats made from animal sources
• Margarine, shortening and cooking oils with more than 2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon

Related Articles Trans Fats: What Product Labels Do - and Don't - Tell You What Do My Cholesterol Results Mean? What's Your Cholesterol IQ?

External Sources American Heart Association Better Health Channel University of Maryland Medical Center

This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.

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