Substituting butter and stick margarine with tub margarine
What it found
In a long-term study of women, swapping butter or stick margarine for tub margarine was linked to a lower risk of heart attack.
The findings were strongest in women who used only one type of spread.
What they found
Studies in people
Heart attack risk
Substituting tub margarine for stick margarine was linked to a lower risk of heart attack. Substituting tub margarine for butter showed a similar trend.
Single-source users
Among women who used only one type of spread, the links with lower heart attack risk were stronger.
Other heart outcomes
For total coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke, and related cardiovascular disease, the results pointed in the same direction but the numbers were wide and uncertain.
High fat intake
The link with lower heart attack risk was slightly stronger in women who ate the most total fat.
Butter and stick margarine
Eating more butter or stick margarine was linked to higher risk in some models, but the links weakened after accounting for lifestyle and heart risk factors.
What the authors conclude
“This theoretical dietary substitution analysis suggests that substituting butter and stick margarine with tub margarine when spreadable fats are eaten may be associated with reduced risk of myocardial infarction.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say that substituting butter and stick margarine with tub margarine when spreadable fats are eaten may be associated with reduced risk of myocardial infarction.
- They call for future substitution analyses that use multiple dietary measurements of spreadable fats or other whole foods and measure clinically important outcomes.
How it was done
The authors wanted to test whether replacing animal fat from butter with plant-based fats from different margarines would affect the risk of heart and blood vessel disease.
They followed 71,410 women aged 50 to 79 for an average of 13.2 years. They asked about butter and margarine use at the start and again at year 3, then estimated what would happen if 1 teaspoon a day of margarine replaced the same amount of butter.
What it can’t tell you
- This study followed women over time, so it can show a link but not prove that one spread causes or prevents heart attacks.
- The women reported their own butter and margarine use, which can be inaccurate.
- The results apply to postmenopausal women and may not apply to other groups.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by NHLBI NIH HHS; WHI NIH HHS; NIA NIH HHS (from the PubMed record).
- Authors work at
- Brown University, RI; Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, RI; and Blood Institute, MD
The paper
- Title
- Theoretical Effects of Substituting Butter with Margarine on Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Liu Q, Rossouw JE, Roberts MB, et al (2017). Theoretical Effects of Substituting Butter with Margarine on Risk of Cardiovascular Disease. Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.). doi:10.1097/EDE.0000000000000557Free full textPubMed 27648593DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error