Haar Advises How Much Butter is Healthy

MarthaStewart.com features insight from Clinical Professor and Chair for the Department of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Mindy Haar, Ph.D., RDN, in an article about butter’s nutritional value. The popular kitchen ingredient provides vitamins such as A, D, E, and K, but includes calories and fats that are unhealthy in excess. 

Fat adds flavor to food and increases the feeling of satiety, but “more than half the fat in butter is saturated fat,” Haar says. Saturated fats are associated with elevated LDL cholesterol levels, which can increase the risk of heart disease.

For most, eating butter in moderation doesn’t pose a threat, but combined with an excess of saturated fats from other food sources, Haar says too much butter “can easily push calorie and fat intake above recommended levels.”