Warning of the dangers of other foods high in saturated fat, he advises people to eat less red meat, take low-fat milk and switch to olive and sunflower oil.
Saturated fat is blamed for a third of the 200,000 premature deaths from heart disease a year.
Adults are eating an average of 800 grams of it a month – 20 per cent more than the recommended limit. Hitting the recommended level could save 3,500 lives a year.
Mr Kolvekar, a consultant at University College London Hospitals, said: ‘By banning butter and replacing it with a healthy spread the average daily sat-fat intake would be reduced by eight grams.
‘This would save thousands of lives each year and help to protect them from cardiovascular disease – the UK’s biggest killer.
‘When a patient comes to me, they have established coronary heart disease. We are the last resort
‘The frustrating thing is that often the need for heart surgery could have been prevented by following a healthier, lower sat-fat diet.’
Historically, heart bypass operations were needed by patients near retirement age, but those in their thirties now appear regularly on operating lists, Mr Kolvekar said. However, his views sparked a fierce backlash from the farming industry and TV chefs.
A spokesman for Jamie Oliver, who has championed improved nutrition in schools, said: ‘He is completely against a ban on butter. He uses butter in his recipes, for example for roasting potatoes in his Christmas programme.
‘He doesn’t like the whole kind of food police, we must ban everything, point of view. Butter can be eaten in moderation.’ David Halhead, who has a dairy farm in Lancashire, said: ‘There is far more evidence out there that dairy products are good for you. Milk and butter are full of important minerals.
‘The public get fed up with various people firing off theories that have no facts behind them. We are going back to the nanny state.
There are a hell of a lot of things that are likely to kill you before butter. I eat butter and milk every day and I am still here.’ Mr Kolvekar’s comments were issued by KTB, a public relations company that works for Unilever, the maker of Flora margarine.
However, a KTB spokesman said there were no financial ties between the consultant and Unilever and he was not receiving any payment. ‘These are his views,’ added the spokesman.
The surgeon timed his comments to coincide with the Food Standards Agency’s campaign to promote the virtues of low-fat milk.
Dr Clair Baynton, the FSA’s head of nutrition, said: ‘One per cent fat milk still gives us all the nutritional benefits, including calcium, protein, minerals and vitamins but with half the fat of semi.
‘Something that simple but beneficial has got to be worth trying.’
Mars UK announced yesterday it is to cut saturated fat levels in Mars bars, Snickers, Topic, Milky Way and Flyte products by the use of sunflower oil.