The Margarine-Butter Controversy

Margarine and Butter Health Comparison

Just what should we believe is safe to spread on our bread, baked potato, and corn on the cob? Margarine companies will swear the negative stories about margarine are myths, and others will claim margarine is close to plastic, never meant to be consumed. Should we be cautioned by the first signs of the big AD campaigns?

They once claimed that margarine was healthier than butter, right? Butter is a natural food; it has been consumed for centuries. Margarine on the other hand, was suddenly replaced by a made butter substitute called margarine, and this is what should make us stop and think.

France, 1869

Margarine was an invention then in the making. Many want us to believe this invention is only a myth, I guess we'd need to go to France to find the patent ourselves to prove the myth as true. Myth or fact, this is how margarine came about.

At one time, butter became quite expensive and supplies of butter were low. Emperor Napoleon III in a desperate try to find a cheaper substitute that was tasty. The new product also needed to withstand long voyages aboard ships during war times. Therefore, the sly Emperor held a contest offering a prize for the best butter substitute formulated.

Hippolyte Mège-Mouriez won that prize for his inexpensive and nutritious margarine product. It was concocted with suet fat, and heated on a low flame with milk. The result was labeled oleomargarine. Mouriez believed that beef fat produced a margaric acid, which it did not. Margaric fatty acid component was isolated in 1813 by Michael Chevreul and the lustrous pearly drops reminded him of the Greek word for pearl thus the name, margarites.

This fantastic butter substitute spread throughout Europe. During WWI the U.S. also suffered a butter shortage, so integrated this substitute into the American diet. Four short years later, Mouriez wished to expand his French factory into the United States, while the demand in Northern Europe was still high. Potential for sales were strong in the United States as in Europe but he never fulfilled this vision having gone missing mysteriously.

Here's a story you will find throughout the internet and in books. It is the story proclaiming margarine was manufactured to fatten up turkeys. But since we were not there to prove this it's tough to decide whether there is any truth to it. But in reality we must be weary, that if it were to be true, this product would be treacherous to our health.

Investors in the margarine invention were outraged and wanted to see a return on their money, so they turned this white fatty substance yellow with dye, filled it with false flavorings and sold it to people in the place of butter. Who ever said that they considered the health of people before this substance was formulated?

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BUTTER AND MARGARINE

The both contain equal calories.

BUTTER

• Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods
• Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8gr compared to 5gr
• Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
• Eating butter increases the absorption of several nutrients in other foods
• Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!
• Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years

MARGARINE

• Decreases insulin response
• Triple risk of coronary heart disease
• Increases total cholesterol and LDL-Lousy cholesterol and lowers HDL cholesterol-Happy cholesterol
• Increases the cancer risk up to five times
• Lowers quality of breast milk
• Very high in Trans fatty acids
• Decreases immune response

After comparing the differences between the two, it a wonder anyone bought into the harsh adverts for margarine without doing their own research on its safety. The problem lies in the fact that no one takes the trouble to do this and trust what the television proclaims. It's all about making money, that's what original the investors thought too.

The endless campaigning, they crushed butter and made margarine a star overnight, but remember what happens to overnight stars?

It was claimed to be the answer to health problems and still may be, why? Habits are hard to break, conditioning even harder. It makes the most sense to be logical and stick to trusting in what's been around forever - products that is are closest to natural as possible. Each time man steps in to invent a clone of something nature had invented already, half natural half synthetic we find out only years too late that it's been the culprit of new sets of disease.

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC. How can one claim this? It has many things in common. Its molecular structure has been changed through hydrogenation.

IF YOU ARE READY TO TEST MARGARINE NOW, TRY THIS:

Buy a plastic container of margarine and leave it in a garage or any dark area.

Check it after several days, and you will notice something peculiar:

• Nothing has grown on it
• no flies swarm to it
• no fruit flies appear on it
• There is no rottening
• the smell has not changed or turned rancid
• nothing has grown on it

Do you use margarine?

By Jackelin J.Jarvis