Margarine is healthy, butter is dangerous

CUT SATURATED FAT switch to margarine

Fats generally get a reputation of being ‘bad’ and some people try to avoid them altogether by doing things like cutting them from their diets. As new ‘low-fat’ or ‘no fat’ products and diets come onto the scene we thought it was time to have an important discussion about fats.
There are good fats and bad fats. This is a fact. No skating around the truth here, we want to give you all the fat facts. The basic principle is to eat fat in moderation and to choose good fats over bad fats. The bad fats we’re talking about are the saturated and trans fats. The most disliked of fats are disliked because they are both linked to risk of coronary heart disease, The British Heart Foundation (BHF) says:
“Too much saturated fat can increase your blood cholesterol level and increase your risk of developing coronary heart disease.” – British Heart Foundation
In terms of your heart, it’s important to think about the type of fat you are eating. Swap saturated fats for unsaturated fats, avoid trans fats and have mono- and polyunsaturated fats in small amounts.
Unsaturated fats are a healthier choice. They include monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. These types of fats can actually improve cholesterol levels and provide us with the essential fatty acids that the body needs. They include the omega-3 polyunsaturated fats found in oily fish, which may help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.”
This is where your favourite butter substitute or margarine comes in. Quality margarines contain less saturated fats than butter and are therefore the healthier choice when it comes down to the age old question of butter or margarine. By simply switching from butter to soft margarine when you are cooking, baking or spreading you will help you and your family lower the amount of saturated fats you eat.

Margarine vs butter- the knock out round

There always seems to be at least one margarine debate flying around. Usually in the Enjoy Margarine Everyday  office we are debating which new recipe with margarine we should be trying out. However, we know that some of you might have an entirely different type of margarine debate, the butter and margarine debate more specifically.  We know some of you fight the good fight for margarine and we applaud you, however we know making the right decision comes with finding the answers and during this time when everyone is trying to get healthy we would help shed some light on this subject.
Team Enjoy Margarine Everyday is (as you may already know) always looking for great blogs, websites and other information that we can share with you about the wonderful world of margarine. And today we have found you an interesting article.  Leslie Fink, Registered Dietician and contributor to WeightWatchers.com has written up a fantastic article to help answer the ever evolving question: butter or margarine?
Fink points out a fairly common situation:
You were happily buttering up that bagel when you heard the news: Butter's a major artery-clogger. No problem. You switched to the better-for-you margarine. But now there's lots of controversial information about that, too.
Sound familiar? We have heard this exact story from quite a few of you. No wonder there are some people out there that simply do not know which to choose. The reasons why the health recommendations sometimes change, according to Barbara Schneeman, PhD, professor of nutrition at the University of California at Davis, is "The nature of research is that we learn new information as we go forward, but that doesn't negate what we've learned about butter." We should be looking the simple factss:

• There are three major types of fatty acids: saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated.
• Butter contains high amounts of saturated fats — the kind known to elevate bad blood cholesterol levels (LDL), increasing your risk of heart disease.
• Margarine, made from polyunsaturated fats like corn or sunflower oil, is often hydrogenated (a chemical process that makes the oil more solid and enhances its flavor and shelf life), resulting in trans fatty acids.*

*Here is where we must intervene. The majority of margarines today contain hardly any trans fats at all. In the past, trans fats were found in margarines and spreads, when the plant oils were partially hydrogenated. However, once makers of margarines realized that trans fats were not good for your health, they began removing them and changed the way margarine was made.

• Research shows that trans fatty acids can raise bad blood cholesterol levels — acting more like saturated fats than polyunsaturated ones — increasing your heart disease risk.

Soft margarines do not increase risk of heart disease, because they are no longer partially hydrogenated. Did you know that, in fact, some margarines (like Flora pro.activ) contain plant sterols that actively help to lower cholesterol?

• Trans fatty acids are now listed on nutrition facts labels, so you can tell at a glance which packaged foods contain trans fat. But even if a food is labeled trans-fat-free, it could contain a significant amount of saturated fat (and vice versa), so look carefully to find the most heart-healthy products.

If ‘trans fats’ aren’t visible on the labels of your favourite foods and most especially your margarine and spreads, simply look for a margarine that says it has been ‘Fully Hydrogenated,’ you want to avoid ‘partially hydrogenated fats as that process results in having trans fats in your margarine.

Margarine has good unsaturated fats and in any high quality margarine you'll also find Vitamin A and Vitamin D, 2 slices of bread lightly spread with some good margarine provides up to 15%  of your recommended daily intake. In fact, simply switching to healthy margarine that contains good fats help to keep your heart healthy. There's a lot to be said for margarine and its health benefits versus butter,