In the past, people switched to margarine thinking it was healthier than butter but then studies on trans fatty acids found in margarine suggested otherwise.
Given that history, I was wondering if anyone knows what manufacturers of vegan "butter" spreads do to make those products solid, given that they contain vegetable oils. Do they contain trans fatty acids?
The short answer is: they use oil bases that are solid at room temperature. Miyoko's creamery butter is based on coconut oil, which is solid at room temperature, and smart balance uses palm oil. Palm oil is probably the most common method, though there have been questions about its environmental effects, though arguably it's better than any of the alternatives.
I don't know about vegan butter specifically, but tighter regulations about trans fats have been introduced recently in a lot of countries, which may answer your question.
In the EU, since 2019, foods may not legally contain more than 2 grams of trans fats per 100 grams of total fat. (Complicated way of measuring it, but there you are.) https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/fs_labelling-nutrition_transfats_factsheet-2019.pdf (This factsheet also has a few useful bits of information about trans fats in general - for instance, that the World Health Organization recommended maximum intake of trans fats is no more than 2.2 grams a day for an adult). There doesn't seem to be any requirement for nutritional information labels to cover trans fats, so all you have to go by is the ingredients list - if a food has trans fats it'll have "hydrogenated vegetable oil" somewhere in the ingredients list. (At least, I think that's a reliable rule.)
In the USA, the percentage of trans fats now has to be listed in the nutritional information on all food labels. Note, however, that if the amount is less than 0.5 grams per "serving" it can, and, in fact, apparently must, be listed as "0 grams". https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/small-entity-compliance-guide-trans-fatty-acids-nutrition-labeling-nutrient-content-claims-and
In Canada, there's a similar regulation, but the limit for how much trans fat can be listed as "0 grams" is lower (the exact rules are rather complicated). https://inspection.canada.ca/food-label-requirements/labelling/industry/nutrition-labelling/additional-information/labelling-of-trans-fatty-acids/eng/1415805355559/1415805356965
See also: https://www.theweek.co.uk/64042/trans-fat-ban-how-to-tell-if-food-contains-trans-fats
Vegan butters are largely used by the 50%+ of the population who suffer from lactose malabsorption, lactose sensitivity, lactose intolerance, or when some other portion of animal milk affects them badly. Saturated fats, which are not excellent for you, are not trans fats, which are actively bad for you. Some of the plant butters use coconut milk, which is probably the closest to good for you that any butter can get, including animal milk butter. Also on the better side is palm oil based plant butter, and many other plants are used as the base as well, many of which may add some good vitamins/minerals to the mix. Avocado and olive oil are also used to produce plant butter. None of them, as far as I know, have trans fats, and all have saturated fats, but not more than butter.
Most if not all extracted oils are bad for our health. They are totally fine when they come in the same package with other ingredients in the food. For example fats in the walnuts or avocados are great, but if you extract them and put them in foods or bread they aren't healthy on its own.
Therefore margarines and butters aren't healthy. Maybe some exist but I haven't found any scientific evidence to support that. Only comparisons what's less unhealthy.
Plant based margarines are less unhealthy than butter, but to my knowledge, there are no healthy options/replacements.
Vegan butters are created mostly to provide alternative to dairy based butters, where animals aren't exploited in the process. Many try to make their product less harmful, but I wouldn't trust that unless I see an evidence.
