Butter is Better - Or is Margarine Bad for You.

Pass The Butter ... Please

If you receive an e-mail with an article about how margarine is really nasty stuff and how it was originally invented to fatten turkeys but killed them instead, then you can take it with a pinch of salt. The turkey bit is just not true.

it is worth checking out the article on the best myth buster website which is www.snopes.com.

The true picture is a bit more complicated but the substance of the article is correct and much of it is still valid even though some of the manufacturers have cleaned up their act a bit.

The article goes on to claim that among women who eat similar amounts of spreads, those eating butter are over 50% less likely to develop heart disease. These claims made in the article appears to be true and should be acted upon.

The article makes other claims about nutrient absorption and flavor being enhanced, for which there is no evidence given. Anyhow we all know that butter tastes much better.

Margarine contains Trans Fats

The article goes on to list the bad things about Margarine and these bits are basically true:-

High in trans fatty acids - A good warning, for multiple studies have shown trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils etc.) can dramatically increase coronary problems, the article says it triples the incidence of the disease.

Increases LDL cholesterol and lowers HDL cholesterol; LDL is the bad and HDL the good one. The article also claimed it increased cancers (by up to five fold), decreases insulin and immune responses and reduces the quality of breast milk. These claims may be true but no evidence is given.

Margarine is ONE MOLECULE away from PLASTIC

The main thrust of the article seems to be the above claim, the evidence given is that it will not rot or become moldy and this is true but a piece of tuna fish will last almost as long and that is not made of plastic.

The methods use to turn oils into solids are suspect and can be very harmful to health. In the case of hydrogenating them it certainly is, however the plastic claim seems to be an exageration.

The original article will have annoyed some of the more scientifically inclined of our readers but it does raise several questions and we can hope that its popularity will be responsible for some action on the part of the food giants.

Butter is Good for You

Butter has been given bad press in recent years, and in an age when so many of us overeat and as a consequence are obese and unfit and unhealthy, then eating any additional fat is a bad idea.

Butter is rich in saturated fat and for some time now we have been told that this is very bad, but the truth is that fats are an essential part of our diet and it is the trans fats added by the food industry that is the killer.

Cholesterol is essential for the functioning of the body and butter can provide a supplement to the natural production, it may even inhibit the cholesterol produced by the body.

We hope we have given you enough information to make up your own mind about the margarine scandal.

Interesting Fact:- Margarine is so called because it originally contained Margaric Acid; a saturated fat which was a byproduct of the meat industry in France, where the product originated, beef fats were a major constituent.