Butter vs. Margarine

If you enjoy butter on your baked potato, toast, or pasta, you've probably felt a pang of guilt when putting that golden pat on your plate. Or worse, you may feel conflicted and confused as to whether you should stick with butter or switch to margarine or another spread.

Although a staple of the North American diet, butter came under a great deal of scrutiny when its high levels of saturated fat were associated with increased heart disease risk. Many people accepted the demise of butter in stride, ruing the loss of its savoury flavour but agreeing that its effect on the heart might be too high a price to pay. They dutifully switched to margarine, as researchers and nutritionists suggested. Then the hazards of margarine came to light. Its high levels of trans fats packed a double whammy for heart disease by raising levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) and lowering levels of HDL (good cholesterol). Many people felt betrayed or duped.

The truth is, there never was any good evidence that using

margarine instead of butter cut the chances of having a heart attack or developing heart disease. Making the switch was a well-intentioned guess, given that margarine had less saturated fat than butter, but it overlooked the dangers of trans fats.

Today the butter-versus-margarine issue is really a false one. From the standpoint of heart disease, butter is on the list of foods to use sparingly mostly because it is high in saturated fat, which aggressively increases levels of LDL. Margarines, though, aren't so easy to classify. The older stick margarines that are still widely sold are high in trans fats, and are worse for you than butter. Some of the newer margarines that are low in saturated fat, high in unsaturated fat, and free of trans fats are fine as long as you don't use too much (they are still rich in calories).

You can quickly compare the health value of spreads (including butter and margarine) simply by looking at the nutrition labels on these products. The FDA now requires nutrition labels to include information about both saturated fats and trans fats. Your goal is to limit intake of saturated fats and to avoid trans fats altogether.

Healthier alternatives to butter or margarine include olive oil and other vegetable oil–based spreads, which contain beneficial mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Next time you tear into a warm loaf of bread or roll, consider dipping it in grape seed oil, olive oil rather than coating it in butter.

What Are They and How Are They Made?

These are oils that are extracted from seeds like Soybean, Cottonseed, Sunflower and a few others.

They were never available to humans until the 20th century, because we simply didn’t have the technology to extract them.

The way these oils are manufactured is very disgusting (see video) and it is mind-baffling that someone ever thought they would be suitable for human consumption.

It involves a harsh extraction process that includes bleaching, deodorizing and the highly toxic solvent hexane.

These oils have made their way to all sorts of processed foods, including “healthy” salad dressings, butter replicates, mayonnaise, cookies and more.

Bottom Line: The processing method for industrial seed- and vegetable oils involves factories, many machines and chemicals like hexane.

 

Why Are They Harmful?

Doctor Thumbs Down

The main problem with most of these oils is that they are way too high in Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Both Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are so-called essential fatty acids, meaning that we need some of them in our diet because the body can’t produce them.

Throughout evolution, we got Omega-3 and Omega-6 in a certain ratio.

Our Omega-6:Omega-3 ratio used to be about 1:1. However, in the past century or so, this ratio in the Western diet has shifted drastically, all the way up to 16:1.

When the Omega-6:Omega-3 ratio shifts too high in favour of Omega-6, bad things start to happen in the body.

The excess Omega-6 fatty acids build up in our cell membranes and contribute to inflammation.

INFLAMMATION IS AN UNDERLYING FACTOR IN SOME OF THE MOST COMMON WESTERN DISEASES AND INCLUDE CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, CANCER, DIABETES, ARTHRITIS AND MANY, MANY OTHERS.

Bottom Line: Seed oils are high in Omega-6 fatty acids. Eating an excess of Omega-6 can lead to increased inflammation in the body and potentially contribute to disease.

Consumption Has Increased Drastically

IN THE PAST CENTURY, CONSUMPTION OF THESE OILS HAS INCREASED AT THE EXPENSE OF OTHER HEALTHY FATS LIKE BUTTER.

THEY WERE LABELLED AS “HEART-HEALTHY” AND THE GOVERNMENTS ALL AROUND THE WORLD ENCOURAGED US TO EAT MORE OF THEM.~~~Al(Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan.