When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enacted requiring that manufacturers use the term imitation butter to indicate butter whose butterfat content had been diminished through the addition of water  Today, it is known that the high cholesterol content of butterfat makes it harmful to human health
Since the public should be encouraged to eat foods with lower rather than higher butterfat content and since the term imitation with its connotations of falsity deters many people from purchasing products so designated, manufacturers who wish to give reduced-butterfat butter the more appealing name of lite butter should be allowed to do so
The manufacturers who prefer to use the word lite instead of imitation are motivated principally by the financial interest of their stockholders.