Posted on 12/13/2021 10:57:11 AM PST by Red Badger
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
In the U.S. the year-end holidays are here, which not only makes it the season of joy and celebration, but also of butter as many Americans make batches of cookies and creamy comfort foods to celebrate. In 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned partially hydrogenated oils from food products such as margarines in order to reduce the amount of heart-damaging trans fats people consume. A new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health recently compared the nutrition composition of margarine products to butter to see which is now the healthier choice in terms of cardiovascular health.
"What we found is that in the U.S. marketplace today, margarines are now a better option than butter for your health," said study lead author and public health nutrition student Cecily Weber. "In the past there was a lot of debate about which product was better for you, but now that trans fats have been removed from margarines, they're the best choice in terms of heart health."
The study, led by Weber and co-authored by Professor Lisa Harnack, is the first to comprehensively look at margarine versus butter since the FDA ban went into effect. The details of the study were recently published in the journal Public Health Nutrition.
Weber examined the fatty acid profiles and relevant vitamin and mineral content of 83 margarine/margarine-like and butter blend products available in the U.S. marketplace in 2020 and compared them to butter. Weber collected the information using the Food and Nutrient Database from the University of Minnesota Nutrition Coordinating Center (NCC), which is a database detailing the nutritional content of thousands of foods. Harnack is the director of the NCC.
The study found:
Following the ban, margarine and butter blend products contain substantially less saturated fat and cholesterol in comparison to butter, and contain no man-made trans fat.
Softer tub and squeeze-tube margarine products were found to contain less saturated fat than stick margarines, making them the better nutritional choice among margarine products.
"The findings are particularly important for registered dietitians and other nutrition-related health professionals so that they can update their advice and offer people the best options in order to promote heart health," says Weber.
Weber says the news is also important for consumers so that they know it's nutritionally wisest to choose tub and squeeze-tube margarines in particular over butter when shopping for food. Tub and squeeze-tube margarines typically contain the least amount of saturated fats, which makes them softer than stick products at room temperature. Weber also added that food manufacturers are to be commended for reformulating their products to eliminate trans fats and maintain their taste and quality while keeping their saturated fat content low.
"It's a public health success story," says Weber. "Consumers no longer have to worry about reading product nutritional labels to see if they contain hydrogenated oils and trans fats. They can just know that they no longer do."
Explore further
Consumer health: Butter, margarine and your heart
More information: Cecily Weber et al, Nutrient comparisons of margarine/margarine-like products, butter blend products and butter in the US marketplace in 2020 post-FDA ban on partially hydrogenated oils, Public Health Nutrition (2021).
DOI: 10.1017/S1368980021004511
Journal information: Public Health Nutrition
Long long time ago.
Margarine became more popular during the Great Depression IIRC. Cheaper.
Sorry, I’m sticking to butter...
How many years of my life were you POISONING ME, telling me to eat trans fat because it was healthier?
I’ll stick to natural fats vs man made ones from now on.
But it's in the cleanup...
so I'll continue to buy my butter wrapped in neat little rectangles when it's on sale and save the heavy cream for my coffee.
“The three secrets of French cooking. Butter, butter, and butter.”
4th and 5th: cream and duck fat.
Same here! Love my Kerry Gold.
Also:
The health effects of butter largely depend on the diet of the cows it came from.
Cows eat grass in their natural environment, but in many countries, their menu is largely based on grain-based feeds.
Butter from grass-fed cows is much more nutritious. It contains more:
Vitamin K2: This little known vitamin may help prevent many serious diseases, including cancer, osteoporosis and heart disease (5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA): Studies suggest that this fatty acid can have anti-cancer properties and help lower your body fat percentage (8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).
Butyrate: A short-chain fatty acid found in butter that’s also produced by bacteria in the intestine. It can fight inflammation, improve digestive health and may help prevent weight gain (11Trusted Source, 12Trusted Source, 13Trusted Source).
Omega-3: Grass-fed butter has less omega-6 and more omega-3, which is important because most people are already eating way too much omega-6 fat (14Trusted Source).
Nonetheless, butter is generally consumed in small amounts, and its contribution to the total dietary intake of these nutrients is low.
Link:
Damn, I better let my 97 year old Mom know this.
Olive and sunflower oil is best, followed by olive oil or avacado oil-based “butter” (SmartBalance, etc). Dementia-preventing benefits in each. Nothing wrong with butter either.
And salt and eggs and orange juice
And CREAM!...................
I think it actually started from wartime scarcity.
Hydrogenated fats are manmade and never healthy.
Yeah. Prior to the late 70's, when the experts said we needed to reduce our intake of fats from our foods. Which naturally led to the obesity epidemic taking off. Calories from carbs replaced calories from fats.
It was a butter replacement when food was rationed in WWII. It was patriotic. ;)
Never touch margarine or anything made with rancid oils. My HDL is sky high, triglycerides are over 80% below the reference marker, and LDL is well below the reference marker. Saturated fat is NOT the enemy. Margarine and rancid oils like soybean, canola, and sunflower oils are.
Exactly. All of it!
Margarine was invented in France in 1869 to provide an alternative to scarce butter for French troops.
Correct. Criminals would even counterfeit butter by replacing or mixing with margarine.
In many jurisdictions, it was illegal to sell or manufacture margarine with the same color as butter
I enjoy margarine every 12th of Never these days. I gave up Dairy 2 years ago as an experiment and have enjoyed many benefits from doing so. Specifically my sinus issues have vastly improved since I eliminated dairy from my diet.
Since meat and water provides all the nutrition I need I don’t see any good reason to ever consume dairy now.
Margarine in my view is garbage and not fit for human consumption.
Oddly enough, margarine was invented by the FRENCH chemist, Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine
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