Butter

Why butter is rated low

Butter is low at about 1 tablespoon (20g) and only reaches moderate at larger portions, well beyond a normal spread. Butter is essentially milk fat with the watery part of the milk left behind, and that watery part is where dairy's lactose lives, so only a trace of lactose remains in the fat. Salted, unsalted, cultured or clarified, an ordinary spread or a knob for cooking sits comfortably within about 1 tablespoon (20g). What that covers is plain butter and only plain butter. The moment something is blended into it, or the moment butter becomes the vehicle for a sauce built on onion and garlic, the food on the plate is no longer the food on this page.

What changes your risk

• Plain versus flavoured A garlic butter, an onion and herb butter, or a compound butter rolled with shallot is carrying those ingredients whole, and they bring their own load. The butter is not the issue, the thing stirred into it is.
• Spreadable blends and dairy spreads Tubs sold as spreadable or as a butter blend are mixed with oils, milk solids, whey powder or other dairy derived ingredients that can carry more lactose, so the short ingredients list of real butter is the thing worth checking on the label.
• Stacking lactose About 1 tablespoon (20g) of butter carries only a trace of lactose, but melted into a sauce with milk or cream, or served alongside ice cream or soft cheese, it joins a bigger lactose total. On wheat toast or in an onion based sauce, the FODMAP load belongs mostly to everything else in the dish.
• Cooking changes nothing either way Browning, melting or freezing butter does not raise or lower its FODMAP content, because heat does not break these carbohydrates down. Clarified butter and ghee have the milk solids removed, which leaves even less lactose behind.

What else works

Butter needs no substitute on this diet, which is the useful headline, and for cooking or dressing, olive oil and garlic infused oil sit alongside it happily. The foods people treat as equivalent are the ones to separate out: cream, milk, condensed milk and ice cream are not butter in another form, because they keep the milk sugar that butter leaves behind, and ordinary yoghurt and soft fresh cheeses such as ricotta, cottage and cream cheese belong in that same group rather than this one. If a recipe calls for a rich dairy finish beyond butter, lactose-free milk or lactose-free cream fills that role, and hard aged cheeses such as cheddar, parmesan and swiss are the dairy that behaves most like butter does.

How to keep it low

Buy plain butter with an ingredients list that reads cream and salt, or just cream, and skip the tubs marketed as easy spread blends unless the label backs them up. Keep a block in the fridge and a small covered dish at room temperature so there is no temptation to reach for a softer blended spread. A normal spread on toast or a knob in the pan is usually around 1 tablespoon (20g). Make your own flavoured butter by beating in chopped chives, the green tops of spring onions, lemon zest, parsley or black pepper, which gives the savoury lift a garlic butter was providing. When a restaurant offers garlic butter on steak, bread or vegetables, ask for plain butter or olive oil instead, since the garlic in it is a separate matter from the butter.

Common questions

is butter low fodmap

Yes. Butter is low at about 1 tablespoon (20g) and only reaches moderate at larger portions, because it is almost entirely milk fat with just a trace of lactose.

how much butter can i eat on a low fodmap diet

About 1 tablespoon (20g) is low, which covers an ordinary spread or a knob for the pan. Larger portions are moderate, so a recipe that uses butter by the block is where it starts to add up.

is garlic butter low fodmap

No, and the reason is the garlic rather than the butter. Plain butter is low at about 1 tablespoon (20g), so a compound butter made with chives, the green tops of spring onions or herbs gives the same effect.

can i eat butter on the elimination phase

Plain butter is low at about 1 tablespoon (20g) and is not one of the dairy foods restricted during elimination, unlike milk, cream and ordinary yoghurt. Check spreadable blends against their label, since those contain more than butter.