Butter is a dairy product, commonly made from cow’s milk by separating fats and proteins in cream or milk. It is a popular spread used with white bread or to make sandwiches but many also use it for baking or cooking. In India, butter is a must-have topping for certain dishes like pav bhaji and is added to the dish to enjoy that rich buttery flavour. Removing the milk solids and water from the butter gives rise to clarified butter or ghee, which is a favoured alternative. As butter burns easily and turns brown, many home cooks choose ghee for cooking. Here are some nutrition facts regarding calories in butter.

How Many Calories Does Butter Have?

Butter is commonly used for sauteing or frying foods in India and is added to most recipes to get a salty and flavourful taste. To get the goodness of butter, you can choose to have it with bread and jam or simply add a small amount to any recipe for that butteriness! So, let’s look at the number of calories in butter based on varying servings and portion sizes:

Calories in Common Food Items with Butter

To include butter in your daily diet, you can choose to add it to a curry or apply a tiny amount to the rotis, chapattis, or toasts. As it goes with most types of food items, you can easily consume butter and get its nutrients without any trouble. Let’s understand the number of calories in a few items that with which you can eat butter:

Health Benefits of Butter

You can enjoy numerous health benefits by adding butter to your diet, which includes:

 

• Loads of Vitamins

There are various types of vitamins found in butter, making it a good source of such nutrients. These vitamins include vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin B12 and vitamin K2. Most of these vitamins offer health benefits and are required for daily functioning.

• Good Source of SCFAs

Butter has a high amount of saturated fats where short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) make up almost 11% of it. The common SCFA found in butter is butyric acid that has been reported to lower inflammation in the digestive system.

• Provides Dairy Trans Fats

Dairy trans fats, unlike the trans fat present in most processed foods, is considered to be healthy. By adding butter to your balanced diet, you shall get a good amount of dairy trans fats like conjugated linoleic acid and vaccenic acid. Moreover, conjugated linoleic acid or CLA has shown to offer many health benefits such as protecting against cancer in animals.

• Various Types of Fats

As you may already know, butter is mostly fats and water and it is considered to be a high-calorie food item. You shall find 1 tablespoon of fats (14 grams) to have 102 calories and 11.52 grams of fats, which can be further broken down into:

• Trans Fat - 0.47 grams

• Polyunsaturated Fats (PUFA) - 0.43 grams

• Monounsaturated Fats (MUFA) - 2.99 grams

• Saturated Fats - 7.29 grams

How Much Butter Should You Consume Every Day?

As butter has a large amount of saturated fats, consuming too much butter can be bad for your health and result in weight gain. Almost 63% of fats present in butter is saturated fats which is considered unhealthy by many nutritionists. So, it is recommended to consume less than 10% of saturated fats as part of your daily calorie intake. To maintain a healthy and balanced diet, you can eat 1 to 2 tablespoons of butter every day along with other healthy fat alternatives. Thus, saturated fats can be combined with healthy fats to have a well-rounded diet for your body!

To Conclude

Now that you know about the calories in butter and how beneficial it is, you can start consuming it with different types of food to keep things interesting! However, it is advised to eat butter in moderation as it’s a high-calorie item and overeating it can lead to weight gain. But don’t worry, because you can keep a tab on your BMR and BMI now!

But doesn’t a healthy body also require health insurance to safeguard against medical emergencies? Yes, a balanced diet will help reduce the chances of ailments, however, health insurance has your back for planned treatments and secures other healthcare needs. With Finserv MARKETS, you can rest assured as we offer a cashless facility, a simple purchase option, easy renewal and speedy claims!