This is the fat phobic generation but the butter versus margarine debate has been going on for the past decade and a half; perhaps, even longer. Butter was supposedly bad because of the amount of animal fat in it and margarine was the alternative offered. I’ve always wondered why animal fat in butter is declared as unhealthy while milk is supposed to be a health drink. Let’s get rid of the cheese along with milk if we’re going to ditch the butter, right?
I have written far too many times that when debates like this crop up, the first question to ask is whether it is or isn’t a case of one industry trying to demolish the competition in order to wrestle its market. This time, I found an article quoting a doctor who said very much the same thing.
The food industry funds a great deal of research. People in the research community know that you can often predict the outcome of a study if you know who is funding it. In that light, it’s unwise to accept blindly the press releases on ‘the latest research’ without considering who paid for it. There are some rather scientific-sounding foundations out there that are basically ‘front’ organisations for the food industry. [Nexus Magazine, quoting from Lipids, an audiotape by Russell Jaffe, M.D.]
I got an e-mail from my brother-in-law, Buddy, which brought out the whole butter versus margarine debate to the forefront once more. We use both butter and margarine at home. Butter is for eating; margarine is for baking and cooking. Butter is Queensland (canned); margarine is Baker’s Best (never Star margarine nor Dairy Creme). The Queensland can contains no nutritional information but that doesn’t bother me. I know what butter is, where it comes from and how it is made. It is NATURAL. But the e-mail obliged me to check the information on the Baker’s Best margarine. There are 8 grams of saturated fat for every tablespoonful of Baker’s Best margarine which is equal to 40% of a person’s recommended daily fat intake. One tablespoonful? Duh, I use as much as half a cup to bake cookies and cupcakes.
I’m reproducing the e-mail in full. WARNING: Since most blog readers SCAN rather than actually READ, note that I have crossed referenced some of the information contained in the e-mail to assess their validity. What I discovered after some Googling are found AFTER the quoted e-mail.
There is a reason for the bold, italicized and underlined portions. Everything is explained after the quote.
Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings.
DO YOU KNOW the difference between margarine and butter?
Both have the same amount of calories.
Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.
Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!
Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.
And now, for Margarine..
Very high in trans fatty acids.
Triple risk of coronary heart disease.
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)
Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.
Lowers quality of breast milk.
Decreases immune response.
Decreases insulin response.
And here’s the most disturbing fact… HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!
Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..
This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).
You can try this yourself:
Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:
* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)
* it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it Even those teeny weenie micro-organisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?
Share This With Your Friends…..(If you want to “butter them up”)!
Chinese Proverb:
“When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.
The e-mail is an integration of at least two chain mails. The portion in bold font is circa 2005 while the portion in italicized font is circa 2003. See this article in Snopes.
How valid are the claims in the e-mail? Some are half truths; others are untruths.
Margarine was NOT invented to fatten turkeys, according to Wikipedia.
Margarine can be less healthy than butter DEPENDING on the ingredients used. Our bodies need fatty acids but not trans-fats, that ugly word that is scaring people shitless. Both margarine and butter contain TRANS-FATS. Trans-fats result from chemical hydrogenation. So, when the food label says it contains hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil, then it has trans-fat.
So, read the nutritional information on the labels. Assuming the nutritional information supplied is true, then, you judge which is healthier for you. And never be too quick to believe forwarded e-mails. If the information is alarming, do your research before anything else. Knee-jerk reactions are for fools.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Gloria 11.08.07 at 4:43 pm
makes me wonder where such kinds of emails originate. lahat naman ng processed foods may trans-fats. baka black propaganda and ganito ng competing food company. tama ka butter is for cooking margarine is for baking. may kanya-kanya yang usage.
i believe basta damihan natin kain ng fruits and vegetables eh maba-balance yung hindi magandang ingredients na galing sa mga canned and processed foods.
one molecule away from plastic my foot! makes them all the more different from each other dahil magkaiba ng molecular make-up. hayyy…
Connie Veneracion 11.08.07 at 5:06 pm
Kaloka, ‘di ba?
Ako din, policy ko, minimal processed food, maximum agricultural produce. Cook instead of buy.
ruth 11.08.07 at 6:44 pm
we use margarine in our household, but that’s only because my son has multiple food allergies. we use soy- or olive oil-based margarine.
Em Dy 11.08.07 at 7:15 pm
The same is true for studies on coffee, eggs, etc. A family friend who joins us for breakfast every Sunday morning repeats the same story every time. Coffee has antioxidants, he says. I tell him, that the differing opinions on coffee depend on which side the story came from. If it’s positive, it’s probably from a coffee firm.
I don’t actually use butter when I eat my bread, toasted or not. I guess that’s the best solution. Rather than argue about which one has more fat, butter or margarine, it’s actually possible to avoid both. After all, we already use it when we cook. If there’s such a thing as no added salt (on the table), then may be no added butter can be done.
Gloria 11.08.07 at 7:44 pm
yeah, plant your vegetables too if possible. mas safe organically grown, hirap na ang pesticide residue, buti kung dala lahat sa hugas. kami dito we can plant na common local veggies. a few months ago dami bunga ng tanim namign ampalaya. kaso if daily may ampalaya o kaya talong o okra (mga tanim ng nanay ko) kasuka naman.
nakakaiyak, darating araw baka pati damo di na puede kainin. he he he.
bayi 11.08.07 at 8:53 pm
I guess the debate will go on forever. It was after I received this e-mail some time back that I have switched entirely to butter. But I can’t avoid margarine in its entirety. If I eat out, many of the restaurants use margarine instead of butter to save on costs. However, if a conscious decision is possible, butter is the choice for me. I think it tastes better too.
Connie Veneracion 11.08.07 at 9:06 pm
Ruth, it’s good that you have a choice there as to the oil base of the margarine. Most margarines here are palm oil based. It’s weird, you know, considering that virgin coco oil is being marketed as some sort of miracle cure. I suppose there’s a difference between “palm oil” and extra virgin coconut oil.
Em, I’m trying to train myself to get used to pesto instead of butter on my toast. Then, Ben Razon posted a comment in the chopsticks entry about the lies about commercial olive oil. My goodness, I felt… what’s the use? I might be doing myself more harm.
Gloria, haaayyy, if we only have the space. Right now, the only things we can grow at home are herbs — basil, parsley, oregano, thyme…
bayi, I agree 100%. Butter tastes so much better. No after taste, no weird texture on the tongue. It’s smooth and delicious and we know what it is.
ben 11.08.07 at 10:48 pm
for me, definitely it’s the butter i prefer. even just a small amount makes a huge difference in cooking or sauteeing. i don’t use it as spread on toast, but when i’ve got a hankering for, say a scrambled egg and cheese sandwich, i think it helps with the taste on toasted bread.
and i definitely would not know how to appreciate the thought of garlic sauteed in ‘margarine’ which sounds pretty disgusting and unpalatable.
another point to consider in the natural vs. processed food debate is, whatever is toxic or inexplainable about whatever item it may be, then that’s where one should start grading the appeal or nutritional merit of it.
Mila 11.09.07 at 3:32 pm
I don’t like the taste of margarine, especially in baked goods (cookies, cakes, etc). For me the issue of healthy, unhealthy isn’t going to be the determining factor; but down the road, if I have to choose, I’ll probably just do away with both, use olive oil for an alternative instead. Hopefully it never comes to that! I do love my butter.
Connie Veneracion 11.10.07 at 6:28 am
ben, as with any processed food, we really don’t know what’s in them. We only know what the manufacturer list on the labels but I don’t think we should assume that they always tell the truth. So that’s the case with margarine and hotdogs and chicken nuggets. Come to think we it, we eat a lot of food everyday that we really know very little about.
Mila, too bad olive oil isn’t good for baking cookies. What I’m curious about now is what’s in those things labeled as “vegetable shortening” for baking.
Kongkong622 11.10.07 at 8:49 pm
I’ve never been a fan of margarine. Bitin ang lasa. Not even yung mga low-fat spread. I’d rather have my butter even if it’s just a pat. At least andun yung lasa. So that’s why Star margarine never melts. Yikes, scary.
bote 11.11.07 at 11:48 pm
i use margarine for kaldereta
for bread, butter is better
bote 11.11.07 at 11:50 pm
nayko, di naawat.
sensya na po. padelete na lang po nito at nung nauna.
Joey 11.12.07 at 12:15 am
Here in Spain there is a choice of buying margarine with no trans fats, some of them olive oil based. There’s been quite a lot of bad publicity regarding trans fats, hence most margarine manufacturers have put out adverts on their make-up. At home we really only use margarine for breakfast toast. For cooking we use olive oil exclusively. It’s not that expensive here, even though corn oil is cheaper. But we’ve never used corn oil or vegetable oil. The very few times we bake we use butter. Have you heard the theory that what we consume in the form of cholesterol really has little effect on the cholesterol level in our blood? It’s interesting. Anyway, I agree the best thing is to eat lots of fruit and vegetables.
Connie Veneracion 11.12.07 at 10:03 am
re #13. bote, done!
re #14. Joey, “Have you heard the theory that what we consume in the form of cholesterol really has little effect on the cholesterol level in our blood?”
No, haven’t heard that one. If you can share the links, I’d love to read up.