Margarine (Polyunsaturated)
Food · Fat & Oil · Food, Typed Supps
A fifth of butter’s saturated fat, and one of the better vitamin D sources in the country.
Stage by stage
- Spreadable (The tub): Interesterification, not partial hydrogenation — which is why the trans fat is 0.148 g.
- Saturated fat (Liver): 14.79 g per 100 g, about a fifth of butter.
- Vitamin D (Skeleton): 12.09 mcg per 100 g added — one of the richest food sources in Australia.
- Sodium (Circulation): 562 mg per 100 g, and halved in the reduced-salt version.
What the evidence supports
- Supplying vitamin D — strong evidence. Permitted fortification at 12.09 mcg/100 g makes table spreads among the richest dietary sources in a country where food contributes little and deficiency is common.
- Evidence that it causes Trans fat harm from modern spreads — insufficient evidence. Reassuring, and a change from the 1990s. Interesterification replaced partial hydrogenation, leaving 0.148 g/100 g — below butter’s naturally occurring ruminant trans fat.
- Lowering LDL versus butter — moderate evidence. Follows from replacing saturated with polyunsaturated fat, which lowers LDL in controlled feeding studies. Saturated fat here is about a fifth of butter’s.
Timing
Nothing to time. The one product decision worth making is reduced-salt, which costs nothing.
Time to effect
- 3–4 weeks: LDL response to replacing saturated with polyunsaturated fat.
- Per 20 g: About 2.4 mcg vitamin D — a fifth of the adult adequate intake.
Allergens
None of the fourteen major allergens. May contain: Milk, Soya. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Keto, Low-FODMAP.
Environmental footprint
7.3 kg CO2e and 1098 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Palm oil" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Mid — roughly £8 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 610
- Fat: 69g
- of which saturated: 14.8g
- Sodium: 562mg
Food vs. supplement
Australia gets very little vitamin D from food — sunlight does nearly all the work, and deficiency is common. Fortified spread is one of the few foods carrying a meaningful amount, and almost nobody buys it for that.
Kitchen tip
Buy the reduced-salt version. It halves the sodium to around 280 mg per 100 g and changes nothing else on the panel.
Common myth
“Margarine is full of trans fats — butter is the natural choice.” In reality: That was true in the 1990s, when spreads were partially hydrogenated. Modern Australian margarine is made by interesterification and carries 0.148 g of trans fat per 100 g — while butter’s naturally occurring ruminant trans fat runs higher. Saturated fat is 14.79 g against butter’s roughly 54, and margarine is fortified with vitamin D at 12.09 mcg per 100 g, which butter has almost none of.
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