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How to
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In more recent
times, margarine has become more and more popular due to the
fact that the consumer has developed an awareness of the
role of saturated fats and
cholesterol in producing heart disease as well as other
fatal ailments.
Although butter and
margarine have about the same amount of calories, butter is
very high in cholesterol and, although it is a whole food,
it is the most saturated animal fat there is. Margarine, on
the other hand, contains no cholesterol, thus it seems like
the
“healthier alternative”.
But, is it?
Although the danger
to our hearts from saturated fat is clear to most of us,
many people do not know that the process of hardening
vegetable oils by artificial hydrogenation CREATES saturated
fat. So, no matter how unsaturated the oils that go into
making the margarine are, they are made saturated by the
very process that turns them into a butter-like spread.
Also, even though
margarine contains no cholesterol, it stimulates your body
to make cholesterol when you eat it.
Butter, on the other
hand, is basically a natural product, which makes its fatty
acids structurally similar to those in our bodies. The heat
and chemicals used to transform vegetable oils into
margarine causes unsaturated fatty acids to transform into
trans-fatty acids, which our bodies cannot incorporate and
when it tries to do so, deformed cellular structures may
result. These deformities at the cellular levels eventually
may lead to cancer, inflammation, damage to the immune
system and other degenerative changes in the tissues of our
bodies.
Does this mean that
butter is healthier than margarine?
Well, I wouldn’t be
so sure. Butter still is very high in saturated fats, but I
would prefer it to margarine any day. The key here is
MODERATION! Also, learn to read your labels and stay away
from all trans-fats, which include: “hydrogenated” and
“partially hydrogenated” oils. |
