Butter IS better say Brits as supermarket sees diet foods ditched over fears

Fears over ultra processed foods (UPFs) are believed to be behind a rise in sales of butter, full-fat yoghurt and sourdough bread.

Supermarket Waitrose said sales of whole milk at its 329 UK stores were up 11% compared to skimmed milk this time last year.

Butter was being embraced as a wholefood, while sales of block butter up 20% compared to this time a year ago.

Sales of sourdough bread were up 20% and full fat greek yoghurt sales were 21% more than greek-style or low-fat style yoghurt.

Will Torrent, senior development chef at Waitrose, said fears over ultra processed food were driving the changes.

He said: “Pure and simple ingredients are something that never goes out of fashion, as the growing awareness around ultra processed foods goes from strength to strength we see consumers opting for whole food ingredients and scratch cooking.

“This is a trend that has stood the test of time, so we predict it will still be going strong in decades to come and which is also why we never see the trend for comfort food and nostalgia fading.

“It is also a cost effective and delicious way to cook, whilst giving consumers the ability to be creative and have fun in the kitchen.”

Jennie Norton, a registered dietitian said Brits were moving away from low-fat and heavily processed diet foods.

“I think a big part of it comes down to trust. Foods marketed as “low fat” or “diet” have often been packed with additives, artificial ingredients, or extra sugar to make up for the flavour lost when the fat is removed.”

“People are more aware of that now, and there’s a growing preference for food that feels natural and satisfying—things like butter, whole milk, and full-fat yogurt.

She said butter is seen as the more honest choice. “It’s straightforward—cream that’s been churned and processed to separate butterfat from buttermilk, creating a versatile dairy product. Margarine, on the other hand, has a reputation for being ultra-processed and full of ingredients people can’t easily recognize.

“The same goes for whole milk and yogurt. Full-fat options feel more wholesome and indulgent, and for many, they’re simply more enjoyable to eat.”

She added that people were moving toward meals made from whole, minimally processed ingredients, like fresh vegetables, grains, legumes, and plant oils.

“These foods pair naturally with full-fat dairy—like cooking lentils with a little butter for richness or enjoying whole-milk yogurt with roasted veggies and grains. It’s about balancing flavor with simplicity, which is something diet foods often can’t offer.”

The British Heart Foundation said the term ultra-processed foods comes from the NOVA food classification system, which was developed by researchers at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

The system places food into four categories based on how much they have been processed during their production:

Unprocessed or minimally processed foods: This includes produce such as fruit, vegetables, milk, fish, pulses, eggs, nuts and seeds that have no added ingredients and have been little altered from their natural state.

Processed ingredients: This includes foods that are added to other foods rather than eaten by themselves, such as salt, sugar and oils.

Processed foods: These are foods that are made by combining foods from groups 1 and 2, which are altered in a way that home cooks could do themselves. They include foods such as jam, pickles, tinned fruit and vegetables, homemade breads and cheeses.

Ultra-processed foods: Ultra-processed foods typically have more than one ingredient that you never or rarely find in a kitchen. They also tend to include many additives and ingredients that are not typically used in home cooking, such as preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners, and artificial colours and flavours. These foods generally have a long shelf life.

The BHF said: “Ultra-processed foods often contain high levels of saturated fat, salt and sugar and when we eat them, we leave less room in our diets for more nutritious foods. It’s also been suggested that the additives in these foods could be responsible for negative health effects.

The actual processing of the food could also make a difference to how our bodies respond to it. Studies have shown, for example, that when foods such as nuts are eaten whole the body absorbs less of the fat than when the nut is ground down and the oils are released. Another new theory is that diets higher in ultra-processed foods could also affect our gut health.”