Key Takeaways
Vegan butter often has less saturated fat than regular butter.Check labels to choose vegan butter with lower saturated fat and more unsaturated fat.Use oils like olive oil instead of butter for a healthier choice.
Vegan or plant-based butter seems like a healthier alternative to traditional butter made with cow’s milk or cream, which is high in saturated fat and calories. However, vegan butter has added ingredients that may be unhealthy. Experts suggest swapping both with olive or safflower oil.
Regular Butter Typically Has More Saturated Fat
One tablespoon of unsalted butter has about 7 grams of saturated fat, which can add up quickly if you use butter throughout the day.
Depending on the brand, the same amount of vegan butter can contain 3–8 grams of saturated fat.
“Many vegan butters may contain coconut oil or palm oil, which are sources of saturated fat,” Christine Scarcello, MS, RD, CNSC, a clinical dietitian at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, told Verywell.
The American Heart Association recommends limiting daily saturated fat intake to 5% or 6% of your calories. If you’re eating 2,000 calories daily, you should aim for fewer than 120 calories from saturated fat sources, or about 13 grams of saturated fat per day.
The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans are slightly more generous: Limit saturated fats to less than 10% of total caloric intake.
“Just because something has a vegan label on it doesn’t automatically make it healthy. There are definitely components of these foods that may be healthier than their non-plant-based counterparts, but it’s still important to recognize that there is saturated fat in vegan food.” Scarcello said.
Vegan Butter May Have Unhealthy Added Ingredients
While the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fats is generally better in vegan butter, the type of processing needed to make vegan butter and certain added ingredients, like emulsifiers, flavors, and colors, may have adverse health effects, according to Maya Vadiveloo, PhD, RD, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of Rhode Island.
The saturated fat in butter keeps it solid at room temperature. To mimic the solid consistency of traditional butter, vegan butter uses saturated fats like coconut, palm, and palm kernel oils, according to Jamie Mok, MS, RD, RYT, a registered dietitian and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics based in Los Angeles.
Which Butter Is Better For Your Heart?
Plant oils in vegan butter, such as olive, canola, sunflower, and safflower oils, contain unsaturated fatty acids. These fats are liquid at room temperature, and studies have shown that replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats may help lower coronary heart disease risk.
“When comparing the nutritional profile between the two, there is arguably a slight advantage in choosing plant-based butter over conventional butter, but not significant enough to strongly side with one either way, per se,” Mok told Verywell.
Anyone who wants to use vegan butter instead of traditional butter should check the nutrition label and ingredients list first.
Mok said to look for products with lower amounts of saturated fat and higher amounts of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
Why Oils Are a Healthier Choice
Since most vegan butter has saturated fats, nutrition experts often recommend using non-tropical oils like olive and safflower oil instead.
Research has shown that replacing butter with olive oil has health benefits. A 2021 study analyzed data from over 521,000 older adults and found that using corn oil, canola oil, or olive oil, instead of butter or margarine, was associated with fewer deaths from cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
Another observational study in 2022 also concluded that using olive oil over butter led to lower mortality risk.
“If you replace saturated fats with those healthy vegetable oils, you will see a really clear reduction in the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, which is a very established risk factor for developing heart disease,” said Qi Sun, MD, ScD, an associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who co-authored the 2022 study.
Enjoy Your Favorite Butter in Moderation
Nutrition guidelines recommend limiting saturated fat intake, but that doesn’t mean you have to completely give up butter or vegan butter.
Mok added that people who generally eat a diet lower in saturated fats and higher in healthy, unsaturated fats can also enjoy butter in moderation.
”Adding a little regular butter or vegan butter either way definitely can fit into that healthy diet,” Mok said.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
U.S. Department of Agriculture: FoodData Central. Butter, without salt.
American Heart Association. Saturated fat.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Health and Human Services. Top 10 things you need to know about the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.
National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus. Facts about saturated fats.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Types of fat.
Zong G, Li Y, Wanders AJ, et al. Intake of individual saturated fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease in US men and women: two prospective longitudinal cohort studies. BMJ. 2016:i5796. doi:10.1136/bmj.i5796
American Heart Association. Healthy cooking oils.
Zhang Y, Zhuang P, Wu F, et al. Cooking oil/fat consumption and deaths from cardiometabolic diseases and other causes: prospective analysis of 521,120 individuals. BMC Med. 2021;19(1):92. doi:10.1186/s12916-021-01961-2
Guasch-Ferré M, Li Y, Willett WC, et al. Consumption of olive oil and risk of total and cause-specific mortality among U.S. adults. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2022;79(2):101-112. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2021.10.041
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