The healthiest margarines are soft tub spreads made from plant oils like canola, soybean, or olive oil, with no more than 2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon and zero trans fat. That’s a fraction of the 7-plus grams of saturated fat in every tablespoon of butter. If you’re also looking to lower cholesterol, spreads fortified with plant sterols offer a measurable additional benefit.
What Makes One Margarine Healthier Than Another
The single most important number on the label is saturated fat per serving. A good threshold: 2 grams or less per tablespoon. The best options clock in at just 1 gram. For comparison, butter delivers at least 7 grams per tablespoon, so even an average margarine is a significant step down.
Trans fat is the other number to check, though it’s far less of a concern than it used to be. The FDA revoked the “generally recognized as safe” status of partially hydrogenated oils in 2015, and manufacturers were required to remove them from foods by 2018 (with certain limited uses phased out by 2021). Most margarines on shelves today contain zero trans fat. Still, glance at the label and confirm it reads 0 grams.
Beyond fat content, sodium varies quite a bit between brands. Light spreads typically land between 85 and 100 milligrams per tablespoon, while some specialty options like Smart Balance Low Sodium come in at just 30 milligrams. If you’re watching your salt intake, this is worth comparing.
Top-Rated Tub Spreads by the Numbers
The Center for Science in the Public Interest evaluated dozens of buttery spreads and flagged the following as their top picks for heart health. All contain 2 grams of saturated fat or less per tablespoon:
- Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! The Light One: 35 calories, 1 g saturated fat, 85 mg sodium
- Benecol Light: 50 calories, 1 g saturated fat, 95 mg sodium
- Country Crock Light: 35 calories, 1 g saturated fat, 95 mg sodium
- Blue Bonnet: 40 calories, 1 g saturated fat, 105 mg sodium
- Benecol Original: 70 calories, 1 g saturated fat, 110 mg sodium
- Smart Balance Low Sodium: 60 calories, 2 g saturated fat, 30 mg sodium
- I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! It’s Vegan: 60 calories, 2 g saturated fat, 90 mg sodium
Light versions tend to win on both calories and saturated fat because they contain more water and less oil overall. The tradeoff is a softer texture and less richness, which matters more for cooking than for spreading on toast.
Plant Sterol Spreads for Cholesterol
Brands like Benecol are fortified with plant sterols (also called phytosterols), compounds naturally found in small amounts in grains, nuts, and seeds. These work by partially blocking cholesterol absorption in your gut. Eating 2 grams of plant sterols daily can lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by 8 to 10 percent, a meaningful reduction that the National Cholesterol Education Program specifically recommends.
The FDA considers the benefit established enough to allow a health claim on packaging: foods delivering at least 0.65 grams of plant sterols per serving, eaten twice daily with meals (totaling at least 1.3 grams), can state they reduce heart disease risk. If lowering cholesterol is your primary goal, a sterol-fortified spread is the strongest choice. You’ll want to use it consistently at two meals a day to hit the effective dose.
Which Oil Base Matters Most
Margarine is essentially plant oil blended with water and solidified. The type of oil determines the fatty acid profile, and not all oils are equal.
Canola and soybean oils are high in polyunsaturated fats, including a plant-based omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) that supports heart and brain health. These are the most common bases in mainstream margarines. Olive and avocado oils are rich in monounsaturated fats and antioxidants, which also benefit cardiovascular health but through slightly different mechanisms. Both types of unsaturated fat are improvements over saturated fat.
A major American Heart Association review of randomized controlled trials found that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated vegetable oil reduced cardiovascular disease by roughly 30 percent, a reduction comparable to statin medications. That’s the core reason dietitians generally recommend margarine over butter: seed oils like canola, soybean, sunflower, and safflower are far lower in saturated fat and far higher in the unsaturated fats that protect your heart.
How Modern Margarine Avoids Trans Fat
Older margarines relied on partial hydrogenation, a process that bubbles hydrogen gas through liquid oil to make it semi-solid. This created significant amounts of trans fat, which raises LDL cholesterol and lowers HDL cholesterol simultaneously. One notable clinical trial, the Sydney Heart Study, actually found higher cardiovascular events in a group eating margarine high in trans fat, a result that gave margarine its unhealthy reputation for decades.
Today’s margarines use a different technique called interesterification. Instead of adding hydrogen, this process rearranges the fatty acid molecules on their natural glycerol backbone, producing a solid or semi-solid texture without generating trans fats. It can be done chemically or with enzymes, and the enzymatic version operates under milder conditions that better preserve the nutritional quality of the oil. This is why the old “margarine is worse than butter” advice no longer applies to current products.
Ingredients Worth Watching
Margarine requires emulsifiers to keep the oil and water from separating. Common ones include soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, and xanthan gum. These are present in small amounts, but preliminary research has raised questions about their long-term effects. A large 2022 study tracking nearly 103,000 French adults linked certain emulsifiers, including mono- and diglycerides and xanthan gum, to a modestly increased overall cancer risk. Earlier animal studies suggested some synthetic emulsifiers, particularly carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate 80, may increase gut inflammation and reduce bacterial diversity in the microbiome.
This research is still early, and the amounts in a tablespoon of margarine are small. But if you prefer a shorter ingredient list, look for spreads that rely on simpler emulsifiers like soy lecithin and skip products containing polysorbate 80 or carboxymethylcellulose. Some brands also contain TBHQ, a preservative. Smart Balance’s olive oil and flaxseed varieties, for instance, include it.
Vitamin Fortification
Most margarines are fortified with vitamins A and D, partly to match the nutrients naturally present in butter. In the U.S., this fortification is voluntary but widespread. Canada recently doubled its required vitamin D levels in both milk and margarine, with compliance required by the end of 2025. If you use margarine as your primary spread and don’t eat much dairy, the vitamin D contribution is a small but useful bonus.
Choosing the Right Spread for You
Your best pick depends on what you’re optimizing for. If you want the lowest calorie and saturated fat numbers, light tub spreads like Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light or Country Crock Light are hard to beat at 35 calories and 1 gram of saturated fat. If cholesterol reduction is the priority, Benecol or another sterol-fortified brand gives you a clinically meaningful edge. If sodium is a concern, Smart Balance Low Sodium stands out at just 30 milligrams per tablespoon.
Stick with soft tub margarine rather than stick margarine. Sticks need to be firmer, which historically meant more saturated or hydrogenated fat. Tubs stay soft because they contain a higher ratio of liquid unsaturated oil. And regardless of which brand you choose, you’re making a substantially better choice for your heart than butter, as long as that label reads 2 grams of saturated fat or less and 0 grams of trans fat.