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
It doesn’t matter how you cut it, butter is better!
I think whatever is least processed is better...
The question is what are the products of cooking? I remember from ages ago: never cook with margarine.
Butter’s better, Bipolar buddy!
I always try to go with Smart Balance with olive oil. Good taste in a soft tub. I would get butter if it was in a soft tub.
A new study! It’s about time. It’s been at least a year since the last study. How is anyone supposed to know what to eat if there’s not a new study at least yearly? Studies are only good for a year, at best. Then they go rancid.
We need to study that.....................
“margarine and butter blend products contain substantially less saturated fat and cholesterol in comparison to butter”
So if you ASSUME - in contradiction to the evidence - that saturated fat is bad, THEN margarine is better for you.
But we now have at least 30 years of studies showing saturated fat is NOT harmful and arguably is actually HEALTHY. Lots of us are eating ample amounts of saturated fat on a carnivore or near-carnivore diet...and getting great results. The saturated fat in cheeses seems to be positively protective.
Total cholesterol is a meaningless number. A study in Korea indicated the sweet spot for total cholesterol is 200-240, NOT <200. Under 200 reduces death from heart attacks but RAISES death to cancer more than it saves from heart attacks. Total mortality is what we need to strive for. If you cut your risk of death by heart attack by 10% but increase it for cancer by 20%, just how is that a gain - for anyone but the makers of statins?
Most margarines have a heaping dose of inflammatory omega-6 fats. Butter is usually much better.
10,000 years of adapting to consume milk, cheese and butter vs. a couple generations of chemicals processed to look and taste vaguely like butter...
I’ll stick with butter - it’s been around about as long as human civilization has, our bodies know how to process it and we all know the pluses and minuses. Government health bureaucrats and their ever-shifting food advisories have probably taken more American lives than both world wars.
Nothing will ever be better than butter.
I just checked my HEB for Smartbalance with EVOO. $2.70 for a 13 oz tub, which looks like $3.32 on a per pound basis. I pay $8.39 for four lb of Costco butter ($2.10 per lb). I’ll stick with my butter.
Butter is what I use. Cook my eggs in it.
Suckles to be you...
I’m not lactose intolerant..............YAY!. ...pass the ice cream!..................
What about all the plant based so called meat? Highly processed and made from coconut and canola oils, which are hydrogentated oils. But hey, we are saving the planet.
Agreed. I don’t buy that any form of margarine is healthier than butter. The researchers assume that saturated fats are a problem and moves forward from there. I think the highly processed seed oils are the problem with oxidation byproducts causing inflammation throughout the body.
Wait another 10-20 years and the nutritional community will come around like they did on trans-fats. In the meantime people who listen to “research” like this will get sicker and fatter.
I get pasture-raised butter. Vital Farms, an American brand with sea salt. Yummy, but I don’t use very much. Probably 6 sticks/year.
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