Is butter better or cheese? Here’s what a nutritionist has to say

While some people may cut them out of their meals as part of certain weight loss programmes, including dairy-based products in your diet has many health benefits. Studies suggest that people who consume dairy products regularly are likely to have lower weight, lower blood pressure, and decreased risk of stroke, and osteoporosis.

Butter and cheese, both prepared with milk, are highly recommended by nutritionists and doctors these days in moderate amounts for various health benefits. While cheese contains more protein than butter, the latter has healthy fats that can help strengthen bones and improve your eyesight.

Cheese is however considered healthier than butter because of higher levels of protein in it.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who ate cheese daily for six-week intervals had lower LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, than when they ate a comparable amount of butter.

“A client asked this question and I thought to ask others about it too, so I ran a poll and about 40% of people thought butter is healthier than cheese. People are putting them in the same bracket I guess because they are both used as spreads/ toppings but please understand, cheese is much superior than butter,” writes nutritionist Bhuvan Rastogi in his latest Instagram post.

“In fact, some cheeses have higher protein than Paneer (though paneer has no salt),” he adds.

Rastogi says that while butter is completely fat, cheese on the other hand has a substantial amount of protein and even provides calcium.

He goes on to compare content of cheese with butter and adds that certain cheeses may have more protein than the packaged paneer.

“Most cheeses have at least ⅔ amount of protein as compared to fat (in grams). For example: 100g Feta has 21g fat and 14g protein. Featured amul cheese has 25g fat and 20g protein per 100g weight. But some cheeses have nearly equal fat and protein content. 100g of Swiss cheese has 28g fat and 27g protein. This is comparable to the packaged paneer we get.

The nutritionist also says that mozzarella cheese has more protein than fat.

“Now comes the surprise, some cheeses like mozzarella have much more protein than fat. You can open your online grocery app and check. I found one in India with 25g fat and 31g protein per 100g weight,” he adds.

The nutritionist however warns about the higher sodium content in cheese and advises to switch to low sodium cheese options. “Also opt for non-processed options with less additives,” he says.

So, what are you having today – cheese or butter?