Butter vs Margarine

The butter vs. margarine debate

This is the debate that tipped the balance for me. It was here that I realized “researchers” know about as much as I do about nutrition.

Who am I supposed to believe? So much verbal ping-pong is carried on amongst so-called experts, when what I am looking for is table tennis.

I think the debate first started when someone found an alternative to butter, something that was (supposed to) taste almost butter. And it was cheaper. Woohoo!

And then we heard that it was healthier than butter because it did not have saturated fat and stuff. Well, a whole bunch of people started spreading that stuff on bread like it was Christmas.

Then came the pro-butterers, who claimed that butter tasted better, and the rebuff from the pro-margariners, who claimed that nobody could tell the difference. And on.

What are the facts?

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Research out of Harvard studied the diets of 100,000 nurses and doctors over almost 30 years, and found that replacing saturated fats (butter) with unsaturated fats (margarine) can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease.

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That study was in contrast to other recent studies that found people who reduce saturated fats do not have a lower risk of heart disease than those who continued consuming them.

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Harvard claims to have identified the cause of the discrepancy; previous studies ignored statistics that people who reduced saturated fat consumption normally increased their intake of refined carbohydrates, like white bread and pasta – key risk factors for heart disease.

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So the conclusion is: reduce saturated fat and you can reduce the risk of heart disease, but only if you replace those calories with unsaturated fat and not refined carbs. Which means butter is out – or is it?

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There are growing concerns that not all polyunsaturated fats (as in margarine) are good for the heart. Yet another study found that men (with heart disease) who replaced saturated fat with omega 6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (linoleic acid) had an increased rate of death.

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Then there is that study that found saturated fat in dairy may actually protect against diabetes.

Butter is one of the best sources of Vitamin A and Selenium and contains Vitamin D, E and K.

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The UK guidelines advise that peeps should limit saturated fat to less than 50g a day, and to replace butter with reduced fat spreads like olive oil and sunflower oil. The NHS say that most margarine now contains little or trace amounts of trans fats.

In fact, during world war II, margarine manufacturers were legally required to add vitamins, and most brands are even now fortified with vitamins, omega-3s and additives which claim to lower cholesterol. Some have started blending olive oil and butter to their brands.

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The problem is they also contain preservatives, coloring and additives.

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Another study seems to provide proof that supplementing the diet with nuts can give you some of the nutrients needed to prevent heart disease. When putting all the studies together, I think that they are all nuts.

Whenever a nutritionist does not know what the pajamas he or she is talking about, or is sitting on the proverbial fence, he or she issues a statement saying that everything is good in moderation. What a copout! Tell that to someone who is allergic to nuts for example, and then feed them a sprinkle of nuts in their salad. Some of them die, for goodness sake.

Telling someone to restrict themselves to fifty grams of saturated fat because you should have a diet low in fat, is like telling a five year old to prove the theory of relativity.  Why would you want to do that? Either it is good for you or it isn’t.

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My view is that since you get margarine from a natural source – which source is then highly processed and cooked, and then artificial colorants and preservatives and additives are added, and highly processed vitamins and minerals are added – you have to choose butter, which is most definitely less processed.

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The problem there is that butter is natural – from a cow!