Margarines, though, aren't so easy to classify. The older stick margarines turned out to be clearly worse for you than butter. Some of the newer margarines that are low in saturated fat, high in unsaturated fat, and free of trans fats are fine as long as you don't use too much they are still rich in calories. You can quickly compare the health value of spreads including butter and margarine simply by looking at the nutrition labels on these products.
The FDA now requires nutrition labels to include information about both saturated fats and trans fats. Your goal is to limit intake of saturated fats and to avoid trans fats altogether. Healthier alternatives to butter or margarine include olive oil and other vegetable oil—based spreads, which contain beneficial mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Next time you tear into a warm loaf of bread or roll, consider dipping it in olive oil rather than coating it in butter.
If you're trying to lower your cholesterol, stanol-based spreads for example, Benecol and Take Control are even better, since regular use can help lower LDL cholesterol levels. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content.
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Since vegetable oils are liquid at room temperature, food scientists change their chemical structure to make them solid like butter. For the past few decades, a process known as hydrogenation has been used to harden the vegetable oils in margarine. A more recent process called interesterification achieves similar results without forming any trans fats 2.
In addition to hydrogenated or interesterified vegetable oils, modern margarine may contain several food additives, including emulsifiers and colorants. Put simply, modern margarine is a highly processed food product made from vegetable oils, while butter is basically concentrated dairy fat. Butter is a dairy product made by churning cream. Conversely, margarine is a product designed to imitate butter.
While butter is mainly composed of dairy fat, margarine is typically produced from vegetable oils. Butter may contain several nutrients not found in many other foods. For example, butter from grass-fed cows may provide some vitamin K2, which has been associated with improved bone health 3 , 4. In fact, butter from grass-fed cows appears to be a better source of many nutrients than butter from cows fed grains. Cows eat grass in their natural environment, but in many countries, their menu is largely based on grain-based feeds.
Butter from grass-fed cows is much more nutritious. It contains more:. Nonetheless, butter is generally consumed in small amounts, and its contribution to the total dietary intake of these nutrients is low. Butter from grass-fed cows contains much greater amounts of heart-healthy nutrients than butter from grain-fed cows.
Some experts are worried about the large amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol in butter and advise people to limit their intake. For decades, butter has been demonized for its high saturated fat content. Observational studies investigating the association between saturated fat and heart disease have provided mixed results 1 , 15 , 16 , 17 , Conversely, switching saturated fat out for carbs or protein appears to have no effects As a result, some experts doubt that saturated fat intake is really a cause for concern.
Others are still convinced that excessive saturated fat intake is a risk factor for heart disease Interestingly, some scientists believe that eating saturated fat may actually have some benefits , including improving the blood lipid profile. No strong evidence supports claims that a high intake of butter or other dietary sources of saturated fat are directly responsible for heart disease However, more high-quality research is needed before scientists can fully understand saturated fat metabolism and its relevance to heart health.
High intake of saturated fat has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, but the evidence is inconsistent. The issue is one of the most controversial in nutrition science. A high intake of cholesterol was once thought to be a major risk factor for heart disease.
This concern was based on studies showing that high blood levels of cholesterol were associated with an increased risk of heart disease The body compensates by producing less.
Normally, this keeps its blood levels in the normal range, although a very high intake may still cause a moderate rise in blood cholesterol levels 27 , 28 , These guidelines especially apply to people with familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic condition that causes abnormally high blood cholesterol levels Nevertheless, dietary strategies seem to have a limited effect in this group Scientists continue to debate the role of dietary cholesterol in heart disease, but the concerns have been decreasing in recent years 29 , Butter is high in cholesterol.
However, it has limited effects on blood cholesterol levels in most people. The health benefits of margarine depend on what kind of vegetable oils it contains and how it is processed. Most types of margarine are high in polyunsaturated fat. The exact amount depends on what vegetable oils were used to produce it. Polyunsaturated fat is generally considered healthy. If we combine this information with your PHI, we will treat all of that information as PHI, and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices.
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Answer From Katherine Zeratsky, R. With Katherine Zeratsky, R.
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