Just been chatting with someone who's had two heart attacks and sharing companionable gossip on stents and diet. I was happily boasting about improved diet with no salt, fat, biscuits etc, lots of vegetables, blah de blah ... He told me they say butter now is better than margarine, even those that are 'proven to lower cholesterol' as there's too much sugar added. True or false? Same goes for specialised yogurts and those little drinks that also lower cholesterol (I did check with the BHF if they were okay whilst taking prescribed statins and they said yes) - but my companion said these days sugar is considered more of a culprit than fat, though it's what we ate as kids that's the real demon. Which of course is too late now anyway. So - butter or margarine? Plant stenols (in cholesterol lowering foods) or a waste of time? Thanks !!
Butter or Margarine ...?: Just been... - British Heart Fou...
Butter or Margarine ...?
The spread I use (pro-activ) has less than .05g per 100g of sugars. I would ask your friend where they get their information
Stay safe
Gil
It’s very confusing how dietary advice seems to change so frequently. I don’t know the answer to your question but I suspect it’s a case of everything in moderation. I cut out sugar in tea and coffee a long time ago and I don’t miss it at all. It took me about three weeks to get used to the taste. I sometimes use butter but very sparingly and I use spray oil when cooking. I try not to eat fried foods.
Hi there, I'm a Dietitian working with NHS and privately as well. I was on here browsing for a leaflet for a patient and saw your comment and the passion kicked in so had to reply! You are right there are always so many conflicting advice on the internet and worse in our media and news but Dietitians are always there to share their comments and their response to these 'Fads'. you can look on BDA website they always have responses to news items. You can also search on NHS healthy eating guidance all the information is on there from reputable sources.
The evidence still remains that too much Saturated fats such as from butter ( fats that remain solid even at room temperature) in the diet can cause high cholesterol and this combined with a high pressure increases your risk of cardiovascular diseases. The thing is there are no bad foods. The main health concern with margarine was that in the past the chemical reaction of changing an oil into a solid spread meant that the fat changed structure and turned into what they called trans fatty acids which are also not good for us. now a days these trans fatty acids are removed from the products. So to sum up the evidence still supports that for a healthy heart we need to be reducing our intake of saturated fat and increasing healthy monounsaturated fats ( olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds) . There are no bad foods in some Mediterranean countries they eat butter and don't buy these vegetable spreads because they are really expensive and lets face it don't taste as good as butter! But then again their lifestyle is very different to our lifestyle as well. So you have to look at your overall diet and lifestyle, sedentary behaviors versus activity levels, alcohol consumption, intake of fruits and vegetables, total fat intake your weight. It's not about choosing a particular food and ousting it and labeling it bad or toxic. There is no evidence sugar is linked with obesity or diabetes , sugar is however linked with dental damage which is why the health recommendations ask for a limit of 20g daily intake for added sugar ( this doesn't include sugar naturally occurring in fruits). Sugar may contribute to too much calorie , too little nutrients and vitamins due to a diet lacking in fruits and vegetables and increasing obesity therefore developing type 2 diabetes however eating lots of sweets or chocolates on its own without the other parameters are not linked to obesity. I hope this helps make it a bit more clear.
Quite shocking that an NHS dietician would claim that there is no link between sugar and obesity or diabetes. It's damaging advice like that which is why we have an epidemic of these chronic illnesses.
As regards the original post, anything made from seed oils is bad for your health. Seed oils are a cheap byproduct of the petrochemical industry and are highly inflammatory. Inflammation is the root cause of heart disease. Stick with the butter.
Not so sure about inflammation as the root cause of heart disease. What about non obstructive coronary artery disease?
6 % of heart attacks are caused by vasospastic angina, microvascular dysfunction and Spontaneous coronary artery dissection- Myocardial infarction non obstructive coronary arteries MINOCA.
INOCA Ischaemia non obstructive coronary arteries which is very difficult to treat, leaving the person living with debilitating angina.
There are several members on the forum who are at risk of a MINOCA or have experienced this type of heart attack.
Inflammation does not cause congenital heart disease, pre eclampsia, peri partum cardiomyopathy, Takostubo cardiomyopathy, heart rhythm problems, heart function problems, infection such as myocarditis, clotting disorders etc etc
Heart disease involves more than just obstructive coronary artery disease.
You raise a good point, thank you. I should have been more specific.
I understand where you are comping from Supagil. What are you going to do never eat a piece of cake? never cook with sugar again? where do you draw the line? will you avoid fruit also due to containing sugar? As an NHS Dietitian we HAVE to base our advice on evidence and whilst an excess intake of sugar is linked with dental damage, Excess sugar is not a cause of but an association with diabetes and obesity due to potentially exceeding total energy intake and an imbalance of other vital nutrients that have health protective properties. I hope this has helped to clarify it for you Supafil.
When you get comments saying Sugar is Toxic we then get patients who come to us cutting fruit out due to fruit containing sugar. This is why as Dietitians and I hope other health professionals we advocate for moderation and eating natural versus processed foods and not using words such as bad, toxic etc to describe foods.
Also please lets keep this forum welcoming and supportive rather than confrontational . Dietitians have years of clinical experience and critical appraisal skills to be able to be able sift through published research and to decide if it is appropriate for our population. What you get in the news are often falsely reported outcomes of the studies for purpose of adding hype to the story. I was under the impression this forum is for peer to peer support and guidance and not people trying to enforce their own views on other people. If you have clinical qualifications and clinical experience and expertise by all means you too can volunteer your support to people but please keep it evidence based.
Great post thanks
When I was first told that I was glucose intolerant in 2006 I had not been taking sugar for over twenty years but I had been recently been taking Manuka honey to put a coating on my oesophagus to protect is from acid reflux. I had also switched from Polo Mints to Butterscotch to make up for cigarettes.
My mum always said "a little bit of everything does you good" she grew up in the 40s when there was rationing so dinners were made from scratch. I think these days people are too quick to go for stir in sauces which tend to have extra salt and sugars in them instead of realizing that often by taking an extra 5mins you can make a healthier meal by doing it from scratch.
Just another note as forgot to mention about the plant stenols, these have been proven by research to reduce cholesterol but you have to take the recommended dose ( 2g of plant stenols per day) on the packaging and have it for as long as they recommend to see the benefits sometimes this means using lots of the margarine to get the benefit, which if you are trying to control your calories and your weight you may not want to eat too much of the margarines. If you use butter occasionally in recipes or sparingly for a treat that is ok 
Although pant stenols work, I myself prefer natural versus processed foods. How about omitting the spread and add some mashed avocado instead or if using in sandwiches and you want the moistness howabout adding hummus or sliced beetroot or tomatoes for that and forgetting the spread? Or choosing either spread or salad cream or mayonnaise not both to make it a bit healthier. for toast on breakfast you could use a no added sugar or salt nut butter and slices bananas instead of butter and jam. This way you are getting lots more nutrients from the nuts( fibre and vitamin E and protein) as well as one portion of your 5 a day
Thank you so much NastaranSepanji - a very interesting read and much appreciated! 👍😊
Thanks that's really interesting. Been trying to sort out my own diet recently and sometimes feel I'm taking my life in my hands having a poached egg!
Diabetics have been now been told that eggs are good for them. Like many people we stopped eggs for years after the Edwina Curry scare stories that most of Britain's egg production was infected with salmonella bacteria.
Great post balanced and informative
I use butter and olive oil, and my cholesterol and arteries are fine. I'm approaching 70. I think that these fats are ok as long as you don't overdo it. And keep up the vegetables and salad.
Real Butter is much better than margarine. Margarine is highly processed containing all sorts of odd ingredients. More advanced scientific research in recent years has found that natural fats including diary are not a problem for health if consumed in moderation. Highly processed foods like margarine have been found to have a very negative affect on health. I avoid processed foods that have long lists of ingredients especially ones that I don’t understand. The NHS advice on diet that I got after my heart attack was about 10 years out of date. It wasn’t bad advice it just wasn’t up to date. Natural foods are best for your health. Vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds whole grains and natural proteins and fats. Butter also tastes a whole lot better than margarine.
Mm, must confess - Not sure I’m much the wiser! I like Nastarin’s explanation of the process being the problem in margarine but seems on the whole, the jury’s still out. 🤔
Hi I only eat butter, I hate marg, but what I just found out from a dietitian, was that lurpak light and lurpak ordinary have the same amount of calories the light one has vegetable oil in it and is better for you, I think this is the case with all butter, I just said lurpak because that's what most people seem to eat, I thought light meant less, every day is a school day even at 62 😂
Try President butter. Since finding it we have not bought any other and strangely it has a use by date of three to four months.
Thanks I will, I am sure I have tried their brie and it was lovely, char
Yes my wife like the brie as well.It is French made for a British company.
At cardio rehab when the dietician did a lecture, she told us to use Olve oil spread. When I went to the supermarket to buy some I looked at the ingredients, 19 in all, including Palm Oil and emulsifiers and other things I had never heard of. I picked up a pack of butter and the ingredients stated 100% cows milk. Nuff said!"
I'm sorry to hear about your experience with the Dietitian's advice. It's great that you read the labels and that is the best thing we can do to for sure know what we are eating. Even some breads ( need only water, flour and yeast) often have long list of ingredients that we don't know in years to come if they will be harmful or not.
In my practice I've always advised for natural foods. Another issue is the advice of swapping sugar with sweeteners or choosing lower sugar options of foods have sweeteners added. Excess of sweeteners is not good for us and disturbs the balance of the gut bacteria! Science and evidence is constantly being updated. In my clinical opinion whether butter or margarine they are not a necessary form of nutrition and the amount used should be small. If possible to omit altogether and use other foods to offer the same texture such as a nut spread or mashed banana or avocado or drizzling olive oil on the bread is much better than both butter/ margarine. unfortunately we will always continue to have processed foods. Another issue also is the emergence of 'plantbased' foods whilst plant based foods you make yourself at home are healthy, processed plantbased foods made to resemble chicken or other meats, I'm not so sure are that good for us. Sorry I went off on a tangent just tried to give other examples of processed foods that are marketed as healthy alternatives but are not.
We make our own bread wholemeal bread and apart from the flour all that goes into it is water, salt, powdered milk, sugar and olive oil.
Butter every day as apposed to margarine. My research says butter is better than margarine for all of the above reasons stated by various people. If you want to reduce the cholesterol content, I advise butter made from GRASS FED cows only. Strangely butter manufacturers don't claim grass fed on their labels, but a sure fire and reasonable cost option is Anchor butter. From Ireland, cows are fed on grass all year round, but sometimes hay in the winter. 🧈🐄
I only use butter, organic for preference and spreadable for ease of buttering bread. Have hated Marg. since I was a child. I also have a weakness for cream especially on breakfast cereals. I am fortunate in that my cholesterol levels are ok. Having said that we used to eat sugar butties as children but we were active and burned off the calories. These days being older and more sedentary (can't blame it all on covid) moderation is the key. After all 'a little of what you fancy does you good'.😊
Well - now I REALLY don't know!!!!
Serves you right for asking :-)Tell us what you have decided.
I have had a no added sugar Benecol drink every morning for years . 2. 7g sugar and 32 calories a serving . Not going to give you a spare tyre
Definitely butter it is a natural product unlike man made margarine.
I basically stopped taking sugar and salt in the 1980’s but did not stop smoking until 1993. A doctor told me in seven years after stopping smoking it would take away the damage done over the previous 40 years. Strange seven years after stopping was when my BP went out of control.
2020, a very recent convert.
Walnuts and blood lipids
statins and help 
High cholesterol...yet again!
