The healthier butters and spreads

From hot toast to crisp crackers, butter and spreads bring the richness and creaminess that turn simple food into something delicious. 

But faced with chiller cabinets packed with numerous choices, how do you know what's best for your health or what's a healthier option? From breakfast to dinner, the butter and spreads you use every day can make a bigger difference to your diet than you might think.

We picked our way through more than 50 products to find those with the lowest saturated fat levels, and uncovered surprising benefits – and some hidden nutritional pitfalls along the way.

Health? or Hype?

Make the right choice with recommendations you can trust, backed by expert testing.

Explore health recommendations

Key findings

• Block butters are highest in saturated fat Of the 16 products with the highest saturated fat levels, 15 were block-style spreads, each containing at least 39g of saturated fat per 100g. 12 of these were dairy block butters.
• ‘Plant-based’ doesn’t always mean lower saturated fat. Four plant-based blocks made it into the top 15 highest saturated fat products, with levels rivalling dairy butter.
• A huge gap separates the healthiest and least healthy spreads. The worst performers contain around 10 times more saturated fat than the best, with levels ranging from 55g to just 5.6g per 100g.
• Spreadable butter costs up to 25% more. You're paying a premium per 100g compared to block butter, even though the dairy is diluted with cheaper oils (which may or may not be ‘heart-healthy’) and water to make it easier to spread.
• One product is as salty as seawater. The saltiest butter tips the scales with 2.5g of salt per 100g – the same as Atlantic seawater.
• Some olive oil-based spreads contain as little as 5% olive oil. Despite marketing that includes images of olive plants, they are dominated by different, cheaper oils.

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Is your butter or spread healthy? How we decided

We ranked the 52 products from healthiest to least healthy by saturated fat levels per 100g. Saturated fat raises 'bad' LDL cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. 

Every one of them has an official red warning label for saturated fat but, from a health point of view, some are far worse – as you'll see when you read on.

Other key health factors we analysed:

Salt: High sodium intake directly impacts blood pressure. While salt didn't dictate ranking position, levels vary dramatically across the dataset, making it a crucial factor to check alongside fat.

Calories: Butters and spreads are naturally fat-dense and therefore calorific. Excess calorie intake contributes to weight gain and associated risks like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Plant sterols and stanols: These active compounds – added to some spreads – are clinically proven to help lower 'bad' LDL cholesterol by blocking its absorption in the gut. 

Expert view: choosing a butter or spread – what is healthier?

Shefalee Loth is a public health nutritionist with 20+ years at Which? and the NHS, delivering evidence-based food and nutrition insights

For heart health, choose an olive oil spread rich in unsaturated fats, avoid high-salt products to protect blood pressure, and consider plant sterol spreads if you have high cholesterol. 

Whatever you choose, stick to recommended portion sizes: a standard serving for butter and regular spreads is 1 teaspoon (5g). 

Keep in mind that individual foil-wrapped pats or plastic tubs served in cafés and hotels are typically 7-10g, meaning a single catering portion can easily double your expected intake.

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5 healthiest butters and spreads for saturated fat

Table notes: Products listed in order of ascending saturated fat, with the lowest at the top. Where scores are identical, they are also in alphabetical order. Calories/kcals, saturated fat and salt values are per 100g.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light - 5.6g per 100g

Thanks to a blend of rapeseed and sunflower oils, this bargain spread delivers a 90% reduction in saturated fat compared to traditional block butters we looked at. Although it has a slightly higher salt profile than the other top-five spreads, its impressive fat reduction makes it a top choice for your daily toast. Vegan.

Flora Lighter - 5.7g per 100g

As well as having very low saturated fat, its blend of rapeseed, sunflower, and linseed oils delivers essential ALA omega 3 fats (which are lacking in dairy block butter). Along with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light, it's the lowest calorie product of the 52 (252kcal per 100g), but watch out for 1.2g of salt per 100g if you’re monitoring sodium. Vegan.

Flora ProActiv Light - 7.6g per 100g

Low saturated fat levels are balanced with healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Its seed-oil base provides essential omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids alongside added plant sterols to help actively lower LDL cholesterol.

Benecol Light Spread - 8g per 100g

In addition to having low enough saturated fat to get into the top five, it's rich in ‘good’ monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats, mainly because of the rapeseed oil. This ‘functional spread’ also contains plant stanols, proven to help reduce cholesterol.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Original - 10g per 100g

Like many spreads, this one contains palm oil alongside rapeseed and sunflower to help it stay solid. None the less, it has among the lowest saturated fat levels of the 52.

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5 least-healthy butters and spreads for saturated fat

Table notes: Products listed in order of descending saturated fat, with the highest at the top. Where scores are identical, they are also in alphabetical order. Calories/kcals, saturated fat and salt values are per 100g.

President Butter with sea salt crystals - 55g per 100g

As well as having the highest saturated fat levels, it also contains 2.5g of salt per 100g – as much as Atlantic seawater, according to Action on Salt, and it's significantly saltier than regular salted blocks. 

Country Life Unsalted Butter - 54.7g per 100g

Ranked second highest for saturated fat overall. However, with just 0.03g of salt per 100g (it’s 100% pure butter with no additives), it’s a rare low-sodium choice in a test list where nearly every spreadable tub carries an amber or red salt rating.

Country Life Salted Butter - 54g per 100g

It’s marginally lower in saturated fat than the unsalted type, but it’s still very high. The 1.8g of salt per 100g content triggers a ‘red’ high-salt rating, too.

Kerrygold Unsalted Butter - 54g per 100g

Highly calorific (748 kcal per 100g) and extremely high in saturated fat, but the upside is it’s one of the only products with 0g of added salt, making it a possibility for those on low-sodium diets who still want real butter.

Kerrygold Pure Irish Salted Butter - 53g per 100g

Just 2g lower in saturated fat per 100g than the highest ranking product, this also contains 1.8g of salt per 100g, putting it into the red high-salt rating territory. It's also highly calorific (744kcal per 100g).

Butters and spreads: the rest

Table notes: Products listed in order of ascending saturated fat content, going from lower at the top to higher at the bottom. Where scores are identical, they are also in alphabetical order. Calories/kcals, saturated fat and salt values are per 100g.

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The olive oil ‘illusion’

Packaging for olive spreads often features lush imagery, but ingredients reveal olive oil can account for as little as 5% per tub.

Among the standard spreads we looked at, levels range from 5% in Flora ProActiv to 11% in Benecol Olive, with Bertolli Original and Bertolli Light at 10%. 

Instead, cheaper rapeseed or sunflower oils tend to dominate these blends, which are still heart-healthy unsaturated fats. However, you’re paying a premium for a splash of the headline ingredient.

The highest olive oil levels we found were in butter-blend varieties – Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter with Olive Oil contains 26%, and Bertolli Spreadable with Butter and Olive Oil contains 23%.

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Plant sterol spreads: are they really necessary?

Some spreads are considered ‘functional foods’ as they contain added plant sterols or stanols to lower ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) states 1.5g to 2.4g daily lowers LDL cholesterol by 7-10.5%.

Standard diets yield just 0.2g to 0.4g plant sterols or stanols, so six spreads in our dataset will fortify your diet – like Flora ProActiv (5.4g sterols per 100g), where 15-20g provides a daily dose.

The benefits stop at 3g, and eating over that reduces fat-soluble nutrient absorption, so don’t be tempted to eat more than recommended. 

Do you actually need a fortified spread? Unless medically required, cheaper standard unsaturated spreads are a suitable everyday choice. For example, Vitalite or Flora Lighter.

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What are you really paying for in the butter aisle?

Across all 52 products, prices vary dramatically, with the most expensive costing six times as much as the cheapest (30p compared to £1.75).

Prices fall into three distinct tiers: budget vegetable spreads, standard dairy blocks, and spreadable dairy blends – where consumers often pay a steep premium (up to 25% more) for added water and oils for the convenience of easy spreading.

Higher saturated fat also drives up cost: pure dairy blocks average £1.22 per 100g because butterfat is far costlier to produce than plant blends. 

Conversely, substituting fat with water makes standard light spreads the cheapest options in the aisle, averaging just 43p per 100g.

Functional spreads buck this low-fat price drop, averaging 90p per 100g (up to £1.06 for Flora ProActiv Light) because of the inclusion of plant sterols.

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Butter, spreads and margarine: what’s the difference?

Butter (80-90% fat) Must contain at least 80% dairy fat. Low in water, it’s essential for firm bakes and pastries. Blending butter with vegetable oil creates a ‘blended spread’.

Spreads (less than 80% fat) Oil and water blends, categorised into standard spreads (60-75% fat like Stork and Flora) that are ideal for baking, and ‘light’ spreads (under 40% fat), which contain too much water for baking or frying.

Margarine – legally requires 80-90% non-dairy fat, making true margarine virtually extinct today.

Historically, UK spreads were legally required to match dairy butter’s natural vitamins but not any more. However, brands including Stork, Pure and Flora still voluntarily add vitamins A, D and B12.

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What we learned about butter and spreads

Choose spreadable butters not blocks to lower saturated fat: Although still high in saturated fats, these tend to be blended with vegetable oils, which not only make them soft but also tend to reduce their saturated fat levels compared to blocks. 

Opt for products labelled ‘light’ or ‘lighter’ for easy health wins: If the butter aisle is baffling, stick to these for low calories and low saturated fat. For butter, choose blended.

Standard light spreads equal best value for money: Everyday light spreads (from 30p per 100g) deliver maximum saturated fat reductions on a budget. Unless you need cholesterol-lowering sterols, don't pay the functional markup.

Processing levels don’t tell the whole nutritional story: While plain dairy butter and simple butter-oil blends are the only products out of the 52 that avoid UPF status, the British Heart Foundation confirms that ultra-processed vegetable spreads are the healthier choice for your heart due to their significantly lower saturated fat content. 

Watch out for ‘tropical oils’: Coconut oil and shea butter, which are often found in plant-based products, can bump up saturated fat levels – if either is one of the first ingredients on the list, you may be able to find a lower saturated fat choice.

Packaging descriptions can be confusing: Lactose-free spreads can still be dairy, olive oil spreads frequently contain buttermilk or butter, and plant-based doesn’t always mean low fat. Check the ingredients list and/or traffic light packaging info if you have specific dietary goals or allergies.

Nutritional information is based on manufacturer data available at the time of publication and may change if products are reformulated.