Which is healthier - Margarine or Butter?

[citoyen]

Water.  But the oil isn't always hydrogenated these days.  See the Flora link I posted earlier.

So, Flora contains palm oil, eh? That's another reason not to use it, even if I hadn't discounted it on grounds of flavour alone.

It's all very well saying the fats aren't hydrogenated, but they seem to be a bit coy on what they do instead to make the fats solid. And what other nasties are added to make the emulsion stable? Riddle me that.

Think I'll stick to butter, thanks.

d.

[Jon P]

I've just been reading in "The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity" by Daniel Reid that margarines need a temp of 250 deg C to be broken down, ie are indigestible, so always use butter!  This is at least 20 yrs old though so might no longer be relevant.  Personally I use tahini instead of either.

NB regarding the Statins waffly, one of the pupils in my Chibaton class used apparently to be robust and healthy, which to me as a relative newcomer is a surprise as she is pretty-well non-functionally decrepit.  The teacher puts it down to the statins she is desperate to keep taking as heart disease runs in her family.  If you would like more specifics on this then let me know.

[rafletcher]

But surely the Sunflower oil is a liquid, so it has to be partially hydrogenated in order to make it spreadable rather than pourable?
And isn't it the hydrogenation that makes these foods much more harmful?

That was my understanding anyway...

No "modern" margarine (pronounced with a "hard" g if you're in the business) has high levels of trans fats any more (at least those sold in Europe), so not harmful in that way.

Oh, and they aren't all from veg oils - some of them are made with hydrogenated fish oils - boy does that stink when they're cleaning out the reception silos or disposing of the Fullers earth filtration medium.  And it's not just hydrogenated, it's (sometimes) bleached and deodourised and coloured - no-one like spreading what looks like lard on their sandwiches.

Healthy? Butter is a natural product with (sometimes) salt added as a perservative and maybe some annatto for colour.  Margarine was developed to feed the French army on it's march on Moscow under Napoleon. It's ersatz butter. Why eat it?  But then again why eat Quorn or TVP?

My tuppence - follow the advice of Egon Ronay - when asked how he managed to stay so slim whilst eating for the various food guides he replied that he ate whatever he wanted, just not very much of it.

[Cudzoziemiec]

No "modern" margarine (pronounced with a "hard" g if you're in the business)

Why? Is it a jargon? Does a soft g mean something else to those in the industry? Just curious.

no-one like spreading what looks like lard on their sandwiches.

Lard spread on bread, with a few slices of raw onion, is a very popular snack in some parts of the world!

[citoyen]

Toast and dripping. Nom.

d.

[Biggsy]

It's interesting that artificial colouring in margarine used to be banned in some countries, to ensure you weren't fooled it was butter.

Toast and dripping and Marmite. Nom.

FTFY. 

[vindec]

"Why? Is it a jargon? Does a soft g mean something else to those in the industry? Just curious."
named after wife - Margaret, I seem to remember.

[Cudzoziemiec]

"Why? Is it a jargon? Does a soft g mean something else to those in the industry? Just curious."
named after wife - Margaret, I seem to remember.

That's... curious! Whose wife? It doesn't quite explain why it has to be a hard g - Margaret, Marge. Margaret comes from the Persian for pearl, it's quite incongruous.

[citoyen]

How romantic, naming a processed industrial fat product after your wife.

d.

[Jakob]

(ie don't eat much processed crap and not much red meat), though, shouldn't worry about butter.

Just what is wrong with red meat?

[redshift]

"Why? Is it a jargon? Does a soft g mean something else to those in the industry? Just curious."
named after wife - Margaret, I seem to remember.

That's... curious! Whose wife? It doesn't quite explain why it has to be a hard g - Margaret, Marge. Margaret comes from the Persian for pearl, it's quite incongruous.

Perhaps the emulsion of the milk products in the oil was pearlescent? Maybe that's where it comes from?

[citoyen]

(ie don't eat much processed crap and not much red meat), though, shouldn't worry about butter.

Just what is wrong with red meat?

Gives you high blood cholesterol and cancer, apparently. Maybe one of the reasons palaeolithic people didn't live to a ripe old age?

d.

[Gus]

So what's the conclusion 
Margarine can be made with oil types so it contains mono and poly unsaturated fat acids.So that will mean that margarine is the healthier alternative vs. butter.

I know that we have a law the does not allow more than "human made" 2% trans fat acids/ total fat.
 
The few times I use such spread I prefer butter on toasted bread or a small amount of rape seed oil on freshly baked bread.
Just for the taste of it.

[Jon P]

(ie don't eat much processed crap and not much red meat), though, shouldn't worry about butter.

Just what is wrong with red meat?

If you can digest it when you eat it and eliminate any by-products effectively, then nothing!

[oncemore]

As my daughter once said to her boyfriend who was looking askance at how much butter I was adding to my toast "yes, my dad does like a little toast with his butter!" About right.

[AAO]

Margarine is basically vaguely edible soap.

[Biggsy]

(ie don't eat much processed crap and not much red meat), though, shouldn't worry about butter.

Just what is wrong with red meat?

Nothing in moderation, hence the "much" in "not much red meat".  Nothing wrong with butter in moderation, either.  Moderating butter is the difficult part if you love the taste, especially if it's straight from the fridge before soft enough to spread.

[LEE]

Toast and dripping. Nom.

d.

My local Butcher used to keep dripping in the chilled store room.

I suspect it was his prostate.