Margarine: The Spreadable Inedible?

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Margarine: The Spreadable Inedible?

 

" I read in your column in " Natural Health " magazine that you wouldn't eat

margarine, but you didn't explain why. Please enlighten me. "

 

-- Anonymous

 

(Published 09/04/1998)

 

The big health news recently was about a new and improved margarine. Imagine

this: Spread it on your toast or bagel and within months your cholesterol count

may be down as much as 15 percent, and your risk of a heart attack cut by a

third. Even The New England Journal of Medicine has supported the claims of the

product called Benecol, made by Finland's Raisio Group. What's not to like?

Well, it sounds to me like the same old margarine story: better living through

chemistry. For decades margarine has been touted as the " healthy " alternative to

butter, and that's not the case. More studies need to be done on Benecol, and it

needs FDA approval. Right now, I also hear that its taste can at best be called

" aggressively neutral " and its texture " oily. " I don't keep margarine in my

house. And I don't plan to.

Margarine was originally developed as a cheap substitute for butter, made out of

some fairly unappealing ingredients: beef fat, milk, chopped sheep's stomachs

and cow udders (which were then treated and shaped into a glossy white lump

using heat, lye and pressure). Over the years, chemists worked on its appeal by

switching to vegetable oils and adding chemicals to make margarine more

flavorful and easier to spread. As people became more conscious of the dangers

of saturated animal fat and cholesterol, margarine makers shifted to

polyunsaturated vegetable oils and touted their product as a healthy alternative

rather than a cheap substitute.

But guess what? In order to achieve that solid, spreadable consistency,

margarine makers had to hydrogenate the vegetable oil, in effect turning it into

a saturated fat. So you're not really getting much less saturated fat -- the

kind that contributes to heart disease and stroke -- than if you were eating

butter. And even though margarine is cholesterol-free, the hydrogenated oils

will stimulate your body to make its own cholesterol.

Also, the heat and chemicals used to harden vegetable oils into margarine change

fatty acids into unnatural shapes, called trans-fatty acids (TFAs). Bent into

the trans-shape, the acids won't fit neatly into cell membranes or other

cellular structures. If the body tries to incorporate them anyway, the cell may

become deformed. As a result, trans-fatty acids not only contribute to heart

disease, but may also increase cancer risks, promote inflammation and accelerate

tissue degeneration.

Finally, both butter and margarine may contain residues of toxins. Drugs (in the

case of butter) and pesticides tend to concentrate in fat. So your best bet is

to avoid eating butter and margarine. Enjoy good bread without any spread at

all. Create low-fat toppings for your potatoes and other vegetables. And if you

want a bit of butter, use the real thing.

 

 

 

 

 

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