[Article updated on 19/09/2023]
Salted butter is a condensed milk fat obtained from cow’s milk cream. It is a completely natural product. What are the nutritional values of butter? How many calories does it contain and what are the ingredients? Is butter healthy? Read on to find out.
Before reading on
I’m not an expert in this field, but I am passionate about nutrition and health.
The articles you’ll find on my site are the result of in-depth research that I’d like to share with you. However, I would like to stress that I am not a health professional and that my advice should in no way replace that of a qualified physician. I’m here to guide you, but it’s important that you consult a professional for specific questions or medical concerns. Your well-being is important. So be sure to consult the appropriate experts and take the best possible care of yourself.
What is salted butter?
Salted butter is a high-fat dairy product obtained from cow’s milk. From a technological point of view, it is a water-fat emulsion with a minimum fat content of 80%, water content of no more than 16% and up to 2% solid compounds.
Calories of salted butter: 740 kcal per 100 g
Salted butter is a food product with high nutritional value, but at the same time very high in calories. Because it consists almost exclusively of fats. 100 g of salted butter provides around 740 kcal.
Salted butter: Lipid, protein and carbohydrate content
It contains 82 g of fats including 50 g of saturated fats, mainly palmitic, stearic, myristic and lauric fats. About 20% are monounsaturated fatty acids, mainly oleic acid. Very important for health, the fatty acids in butter are short-chain fatty acids, the chain of which does not contain more than 8 carbon atoms.
The fats in salted butter are burned very quickly. They do not accumulate as such in reserve adipose tissue. And even some sources suggest that they promote the acceleration of metabolism. Short-chain fatty acids are very important for nourishing intestinal epithelial cells and are their main source of energy. Additionally, they exhibit antifungal and antibacterial properties. Butter contains approximately 8g of short-chain fatty acids per 100g.
Butter is also a source of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) with anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic properties. However, it is worth remembering that CLA is primarily found in butter from naturally fed, grassland-grazed cows. In winter, when cows are fed in stables, CLA constitutes 0.49% of total fatty acids. In summer, when cows graze, it represents 1.2% of total fatty acids.
A very significant fraction of milk fat is made up of phospholipids, the most important of which are lecithin and sphingomyelin. These compounds have a positive effect on the nervous system, as well as the ability to remember and concentrate. They facilitate the rapid regeneration of the body during intense physical effort.
Milk fat contains 0.6 to 1.0% phospholipids. In addition to fat and water, butter contains small amounts of carbohydrates (0.7 g/100 g), lactose and protein (0.7 g/100 g).
Nutritional values table for salted butter
| Nutrients | Salted butter: content per 100 grams |
| Carbohydrates | 0.06g |
| -with sugar | 0.06g |
| -of which starch | 0g |
| -including dietary fiber | 0g |
| Proteins | 0.85g |
| Lipids | 81.1g |
| -including cholesterol | 215 mg |
| -of which saturates | 51.4g |
| Potassium | 24 mg |
| Sodium | 643 mg |
| Water | 16.2g |
| Alcohol | 0mg |
How much does salted butter weigh on average?
Salted butter comes in various forms and their weights differ significantly. However, regardless of the brand, salted butter weighs on average 250 g and contains 1850 kcal.
What are the vitamin contributions of salted butter?
Butter is a source of fat-soluble vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K).
What are the mineral contributions of salted butter?
Salted butter contains sodium, iron and calcium. Manufacturers add these mineral elements during the manufacturing of the product.
Does salted butter increase cholesterol levels?
Butter and generally saturated fatty acids of animal origin are thought to increase blood cholesterol levels. However, the cholesterol theory has been repeatedly disproven, and it is now widely accepted that cholesterol from food has no real effect on blood levels of this nutrient.
This is because the liver produces 70 to 80% of the total cholesterol needed by the body. There is a balance in the food-liver system. The more cholesterol we eat, the less cholesterol the liver produces, and vice versa. In fact, the saturated fatty acids in butter increase blood levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, but at the same time increase levels of “good” HDL cholesterol, so the effect on health is completely neutral.
Opponents of the consumption of butter and animal fats often focus only on the LDL fraction, without taking into account the overall effect of these foods on health.
Does salted butter contain food additives?
The additives authorized in butter are carotenes E160a, sodium carbonates (E500), phosphoric acid (E338), phosphates (E339-343), diphosphates (E450), triphosphates (E451) and polyphosphates ( E452). Carotenes are the most used additives in salted butter. We owe the yellow color of butter to them.
Does butter make you gain weight?
Butter has often been the subject of controversial theories that it is one of the most caloric products on the market. These claims are due to “flawed” studies conducted over the years, which only considered a few factors, to the exclusion of others. They have therefore led to the belief that foods such as butter should be completely eliminated from the diet. Furthermore, to criticize this product, it is often poorly informed people, who take the false myths as true and publish them on the internet without sources or studies on the subject.
The demonization of butter probably originated in the 1950s when the “seven countries” study by Ancel Keys was carried out, which showed that there was a strong correlation between the consumption of fatty foods and increased cholesterol levels. in the blood and an increase in the frequency of heart disease. This study has been refuted over the years by more recent research on the subject.
The most recent studies show that butter is not a food that makes you gain weight if consumed in the right doses.