What's the scoop on margarine?
It all began in the 1930s. With butter rations and the rise in heart disease, margarine emerged as a cheaper, human-made alternative that boasted a decrease in saturated fats. Further, over time manufacturers were able to add Vitamin A, thus affording margarine the label "nutritional." In more recent years, we see spreads laden with new, trendy "nutritional" additives such as olive oil and omega-3s. But when you get right down to it, margarine was and still is "basically the same--mixtures of soybean oil and food additives"--so writes Marion Nestle in her book, What to Eat.
Oil and additives don't sound too appetizing. How did we become so convinced as a population of the benefits of this human-made substance? Well, newness is always a factor. "New" is alluring, even seductive. If it's new, it's gotta be better!
Further, margarine is convenient as it doesn't spoil. In fact, you can leave your tub on the counter for months without worrying about the appearance of mold. The process by which corn, soy or rape seed oil (derived from cotton) is turned to margarine prevents rancidity.
But more significantly, margarine's climb to prominence can be attributed to highly effective ad campaigns generated by manufacturers benefiting from the sale of margarine (particularly large scale producers of corn, soy and cotton). Over time, these manufacturers effectively convinced us that hydrogenated vegetable oil was and is the better choice--a healthier alternative to fatty butter.
Well, is this stuff less "fatty?" Margarine has a DIFFERENT composition of fats. Because oil is normally liquid, something must be done in order to make it solid at room temperature. This process is called hydrogenation. Food chemists purify the soy oil and force just enough hydrogen through it to produce just the right consistency--the spreadable hardness we love! But adding hydrogen to soy oil increases the proportion of saturated fatty acids, as well as creating TRANS FATTY acids. And what's so bad about trans fats? In short, they're human-made, and not found in nature (saturated fats, on the other hand, are natural). As such, our bodies don't know what to do with them and they have been shown to increase the likelihood of heart disease.
Many spreads today are trans fat-free, but in order to achieve that scientific phenomenon, more processing is required, which means more cost for the consumer. And less trans fats means more of something else--usually water, which affects taste. And though water and soy oil may not hurt you in the long run, are they doing anything to enable health?
What's the spread on butter?
Butter, on the other hand, is a natural dairy product made from churning fresh or fermented cow's milk. So far so good, right? Unfortunately, as mentioned above, butter was black-listed in the mid-20th century. The proponents of margarine made the link between heart disease and saturated fats from animal sources (code for butter). Strangely, when you really analyze the facts, heart disease was on the rise just as butter was on the decline. But despite the inaccurate correlation pointing to butter as the culprit, the smear campaign worked. People began to cut butter from their diet, replacing it with human-made margarine. However, when you cut out butter, you're eliminating a host of good things.Consider that butter NATURALLY contains easily absorbable Vitamin A, as well as Vitamin E, D & K. It also contains trace minerals including selenium, which acts as a powerful antioxidant, and fatty acids, namely butyric acid, which acts as an anti-carcinogen. Not to mention glycospingolipids, which are important for both children and the elderly, protecting against gastrointestinal infection.
Great! Does this mean I can gorge on butter? Um...no! You don't want to over-indulge on butter. Everything in moderation, right? But in moderate quantities, our bodies actually benefit from the natural saturated fats found in butter. So go ahead and enjoy! We believe that butter is a much healthier alternative, and can contribute to enabling your health!
Are all butters created equal?
Like everything, there's a good choice, and then there's a great choice! 1. Your best butter choice is one that is raw and cultured. Raw refers to it being "unpasteurized," which means all the enzymes are intact and easily absorbable/usable in your system.
2. Cultured means good bacteria are present. Our bodies need a certain amount of good micro-flora to keep things working well!
3. If you can't find raw or cultured butter in your grocery store, protest! Get the manager to order what you need for good health.
4. Your next best option is, of course, organic. Because butter is a dairy product and thus originating from animals, you don't want to be ingesting growth hormones unknowingly.
Lately, we've been using salted organic butter from Trader Joe's (a reasonably priced organic store in our neighborhood!), but are going to make the move to raw butter very soon! We enjoy the process of reading labels and getting better acquainted with what we're actually ingesting--it makes us more thoughtful consumers, and gives us the tools we need to enable our health!
Rebecca_Davey
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