How to Choose a Healthy Breakfast Spread

by Alison Goldman

There’s no way to butter this up: A new study conducted in the U.K. finds that almost four in 10 butters and spreads have a salt content above the recommended guidelines.

The Consensus Action on Salt & Health (CASH) examined 128 butters and spreads from leading U.K. supermarkets. What they found: Only 38 percent of the butters and margarines met the U.K. Department of Health’s 2012 salt targets.

Of course, this research dealt with U.K. products and guidelines, but if you’re concerned about your sodium intake or if you eat a lot of butter or spreads, then this is something you should look out for in the U.S., too, says Brooke Alpert, R.D., founder of B Nutritious, who was not involved in the research. One issue with the spreadable stuff: People often put it on top of foods that already have plenty of salt in them, says Alpert. Think pasta or bread, for example. “People are starting to add salt on top of salt, and they have no idea,” she says.

Here, three tips from Alpert for the sodium-conscious. Use these the next time you’re standing in the grocery aisle, ready to get your spread on:

Don’t Believe Everything You Read
Unfortunately, you can’t just go for one of the “lightly salted” varieties and call it a day.  Even if a product claims to be low in salt, you should take that with, er, a grain of salt. “There are no guidelines for what it means to use the label ‘lightly salted’ or ‘low in sodium,’” says Alpert, “versus when something says ‘0 trans fats’ on it, it has to be less than .5 grams of trans fats.” Make sure to look at the nutrition facts to figure out how much sodium a product actually has.

Read the Ingredients
They’re always listed in order of percentage, says Alpert, so the higher up in the list, the more of that ingredient there is in the food. If salt is listed early on, that’s a warning sign. Check for other unhealthy content, too, such as fillers or preservatives—ideally, you should be able to pronounce all of the ingredients, says Alpert.

Know Your Portion Control Skills
How much salt content is too much in any given spread or butter? It depends on how much you plan to use, says Alpert. “If you’re someone who has really good portion control and can use a teaspoon of it, then it wouldn’t be that big of a deal [to have a higher sodium content],” she says. “If you’re someone who doesn’t want to think about it, I certainly wouldn’t go any higher than about 100 milligrams of sodium per tablespoon.” After all, your pat of butter might be larger than you think.