Margarine

Studies in people

• Benefit

  Cholesterol and heart risk³

  Margarine with added plant stanols or sterols lowers LDL cholesterol only a little, and not in everyone.

• Open question

  Blood vessel health⁴

  In people, rapeseed-sterol margarine changed two blood markers tied to vessel health, but what this means is not yet known.

• Benefit

  Heart attack risk⁵

  In women, swapping butter or stick margarine for tub margarine was linked to fewer heart attacks.

• No harm found

  Childhood body size⁶

  In people, vitamin-D from fortified margarine during pregnancy showed no link to children's weight at age 7.

• Benefit

  Pregnancy blood pressure risk⁷

  Women whose mothers ate margarine fortified with extra vitamin D while pregnant had lower odds of pre-eclampsia later.

• Benefit

  Asthma in children⁸

  In children, eating margarine once or twice a week was linked to less asthma and wheezing, but the cause is not known.

• Open question

  Blood cholesterol and heart risk⁹

  In people, soft margarines lowered cholesterol and hard high-trans margarines gave no benefit over butter.

• Concern

  Heart health¹⁰

  Margarine once contained trans fats linked to higher heart disease risk, so makers now cut them down.

• Benefit

  Cholesterol levels¹¹

  In people, eating a tub of margarine with added phytosterols weekly lowered total and LDL cholesterol.

• Benefit

  Belly fat¹²

  People eating margarine with MCT fats lost more belly, under-skin and deep fat than with regular margarine.

• Open question

  Cholesterol response¹⁴

  Whether sitostanol-supplemented margarine lowers cholesterol varies between people, and a blood test may predict who responds.

• Open question

  Blood antioxidant levels¹⁶

  Eating margarine with added vitamins C and E raised the levels of these vitamins in people's blood.

• Concern

  Heart attack risk in women¹⁷

  In Italian women, eating more margarine was linked to a higher risk of heart attack.

• Concern

  Allergies in children¹⁸

  In children, eating margarine was linked to more allergic sensitization and runny nose, mostly in boys.

• Concern

  Blood fat levels¹⁹

  In people, eating margarine with trans fats changed blood fat levels, but butter and margarine looked different.

• Open question

  Blood clotting and heart risk²¹

  In healthy people, margarine made with chemically rearranged vegetable fats changed blood clotting markers only slightly compared with regular margarine.

• Open question

  Birth weight in babies²²

  Babies born after margarine was fortified with vitamin D weighed slightly more or less, but the change was small and inconsistent.

Animal and lab studies only

• Open question

  Heart health fats²³

  Margarine made with chia oil had more omega-3 fats and no trans fats than regular margarine.

• Benefit

  Fat digestion²⁴

  In lab studies, margarine made with cottonseed and palm oils released more free fatty acids, which may make it easier to digest.

How it’s made and used

• Cholesterol levels in people¹³

  In people using margarine, swapping it for rapeseed or olive oil changed cholesterol levels.

• Stool sterol levels¹⁵

  Eating margarine with added vegetable oil sterols made people pass more sterols in their stools.

• Recommended dose shortfall²⁰

  In people at high heart risk, few used phytosterol-enriched margarine, and most users took less than the recommended amount.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.