On morning toast, to brown vegetables or make a sauce, butter is part of the landscape. At the same time, it is the food that many blame first when we talk about cholesterol or being overweight. A confusing contrast.
In Brittany, producer Léa Baril has been eating it every day since she made her own farm butter. Without seeing his silhouette change. A nutritionist details what we can expect from this much-maligned fat, and how far to go.
What does butter really contain for health?
A classic butter has around 82% fat, for almost 750 kcal per 100 g. About 60% of these lipids are saturated fatty acids, the rest being mainly mono and polyunsaturated.
However, it is not empty fat. The nutritionist specifies that butter provides so-called fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, useful for vision, skin, immunity, bones, as well as a little calcium.
Butter, cholesterol and heart: ally or enemy?
Saturated fatty acids increase “bad” LDL cholesterol when consumed in excess, which can promote cardiovascular disease. Recommendations advise limiting these fats to around 10 to 12% of daily intake, with the rest of the lipids coming mainly from vegetable oils.
Large studies remain rather reassuring when the butter is only a small touch: a large cohort did not show excess cardiovascular mortality around 14 g per day. , estimates Françoise Mahé, nutritionist, speaking to France 3, or around 150 kcal. Other experts recommend 10 g instead; aiming for 10 to 20 g daily remains a reasonable benchmark for an adult without any particular pathology.
How to enjoy butter without harming your health
How you use it also matters. Heated until smoking, butter browns, its proteins burn and potentially carcinogenic compounds appear. Better to use it raw on bread or hot vegetables, or at the end of cooking, and save the olive oil for high temperatures.
What remains is pleasure, essential to maintaining your habits over time. At the La Beucherie farm, Léa Baril assumes: , she explains in a France 3 report. To reconcile pleasure and health, it is above all a question of staying within these 10 to 20 g of butter per day, using more oils rich in omega 3 and limiting pastries and ultra-processed dishes which already contain a lot.
Is butter a good fat?
In small quantities, it can be part of a balanced diet.
How much butter per day for health?
Many experts aim for between 10 and 20 g of butter per day.
Butter or oil for cooking?
We keep the butter raw or at the end of cooking, and we prefer oil for vigorous cooking.
