Key Differences Between Grass-Fed and Regular Butter
So, should you buy grass-fed or regular butter? Anecdotal and scientific evidence backs up the notion that grass-fed may be the better option to add to your cart at the grocery store thanks to its better marks in terms of appearance, taste, and nutritional content.
Appearance
To some, grass-fed butter may look more appealing than regular butter. Indeed, research notes that grass-grazed cows lead to butter that’s superior in texture and functional characteristics, like its reduced hardness (making it more spreadable) and increased yellow color. And that color isn’t just visually pleasing: It’s also associated with increased carotenoids, which are compounds associated with protective antioxidant properties.
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Taste
“While the flavor of grass-fed butter will change depending on the location and time of year that the cows grazed, the taste is generally richer and more intensely butter-flavored than regular butter,” Malkani says.
Nutritional Content
Grass-fed butter may have a stronger spread of nutritional benefits than its regular-butter counterpart. Potential benefits of grass-fed butter include its additional contents of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and unsaturated fat (as opposed to saturated fat). These characteristics are generally a boon to heart health, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).
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Grass-fed butter also has greater amounts of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a group of fatty acids that may help lower your risk of heart disease, says Malkani.
Some people tout CLAs as also being beneficial for fat loss, but the scientific evidence for that claim is weak, says Sonya Angelone, RDN, a nutrition consultant in San Francisco. What’s more, you’d have to consume 3,000 to 6,000 milligrams (mg) of CLAs per day to see benefits. One tablespoon (tbsp) of grass-fed butter has only about 300 mg, she says.
