Butter vs Margarine (is margarine really bad for you?)?
A dear friend of mine has been telling me that margarine is really bad for you. She said that Margarine is: Very high in trans fatty acids. Triples risk of coronary heart disease. Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) 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.
But most of all its like one molecule away from plastic..
Is there any truth to this?
Anonymous2008-01-31T09:18:20Z
Favorite Answer
Yes. Animal fat and saturated fat like butter is healthy for you.
Manufacturers cannot use liquid oils in baked goods or frying, and they are not spreadable. So to harden the liquid vegetable oils to make margarine and shortening, they put the oils through a process called partial hydrogenation. To make margarine or shortening, first the oil is extracted under high temperature and pressure, and the remaining fraction of oil is removed with hexane solvents. Then the oils are steam cleaned, a process that removes all the vitamins and anti-oxidants, but of course, the solvents and the pesticides remain. These oils are then mixed with a nickel catalyst and put into a huge high-pressure, high-temperature reactor. What goes into the reactor is a liquid, but what comes out of that reactor is a semi-solid that looks like grey cottage cheese and smells terrible. Emulsifiers are mixed in to smooth out the lumps. The product is then steam cleaned a second time to get rid of the horrible smell. Then it is bleached to get rid of the grey color. At this point, the product can be used as vegetable shortening.
To make margarine, they add artificial flavors and synthetic vitamins. You may be comforted to know that manufacturers are not allowed to add a synthetic color to margarine. So they add annatto or some other natural coloring. It is then packaged in blocks and tubs. Advertising promotes this garbage as a health food.
Most of the trans fats have been removed from margarine. Just check the label on the back. Other than that butter and margarine are basically equivilent. Just choose one and do not eat too much. Everything is poisonous if eaten in too high a quantity (even water). Stop worrying about the foods you eat and just make sure you eat a variety of different foods and enjoy your life.
Yeh I've heard this too and have seen it on tv programs before, eating margarine is just like eating chemicals from a tub, I wouldn't touch the stuff, I always use butter instead...
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