Many years ago, in a past life (or so it seems) when I was married to my Balinese husband, we (he) had a restaurant. Those were the days when the cafes were built mostly of bamboo, the beer was as cold as the ice box (plastic tub filled with ice chunks), and a fridge that stood as high as my navel struggled to keep all sundries cold on a less than ample power supply. No wonder there was little room for the massive tin of Blue Band (margarine) that was used for EVERYTHING. - Sauces, frying, toast, pancakes etc. The faithful tin of yellow stuff stood next to the gas “kompor” for days on end and never really changed its consistency or appearance except for the odd fly or mosquito that would nose dive in. It’s no wonder then that this yellow goo is so full of preservatives & chemicals when it has to stand the challenge of the tropical kitchen, but is this really so bad?
Some of you may recently have received a chain e-mail comparing the two evils of bread – margarine & butter. This is a pretty hard hitting, one sided and damming argument for butter (…and against the good old marj). Is this really true or just a cheap shot by diary farmers to increase their sales? Here is a copy of the e-mail for those of you that have not seen it, and below we will try to make some sense of this age long dispute. Here is the email letter:
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DID YOU KNOW...
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Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams
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Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% compared to eating the same amount of butter according to a recent Harvard Medical Study
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Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added.
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Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.
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Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less then 100 years.
Now for Margarine...
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Very high in Trans Fatty Acids. Triple risk of Coronary Heart Disease.
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Increases total and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol). Lowers HDL cholesterol and this is the good one.
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Increases the risk of cancers by up to five fold.
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Lowers quality of breast milk. Decreases immune response. Decreases insulin response.
And another disturbing fact.... Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE from being PLASTIC...!!!! (This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated. This means hydrogen is added changing the molecular structure of the food).
YOU can try this yourself - Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or a shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things. No flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it, (that should tell you something) It does not rot, or smell differently...Because it has no nutritional value, nothing will grow on it, even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow...Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?”
(End of email letter)
So which will you choose? In the first place, it is total fat in the diet that correlates with risk of premature death and disability from the major killing diseases. If there is one undisputed fact that emerges from the confusion of modern nutritional research, it is that typical high-fat diets are killing us. Most people will live longer, feel better, and have less risk of early death from heart disease, stroke, and cancer if they keep their fat intake to well below 30 percent of calories in the diet, preferably in the range of 20 percent.
The most significant area of comparison is the different chemical structures of the component fatty acids of the two. Butter is basically a natural product, and its fatty acids are structurally similar to the fatty acids in our bodies. The heat and chemicals used to transform vegetable oils into margarine change fatty acids into unnatural forms that may be most unhealthy to eat.
So let’s look at butter. The problem with butter is that it contains two cholesterol-raising ingredients: dietary cholesterol and saturated fat. Dietary cholesterol is found only in animal products so you won’t find any cholesterol in a plant-based food or food product (such as margarine). Some of us are more affected by cholesterol in the diet than others, meaning some people can consume a diet high in cholesterol without blood cholesterol levels being affected; but others need only eat a little dietary cholesterol and their cholesterol levels soar. Overall, it is recommended that healthy persons consume no more than 200 milligrams cholesterol each day. Butter has 33 milligrams of cholesterol in one tablespoon alone!
Cholesterol aside, butter’s biggest trouble is its saturated fat content. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature and are found largely in red meat, high-fat dairy products (like butter) as well as coconut and palm oils. When eaten in excess, saturated fats increase the “bad” cholesterol (LDL) as well as the “good” cholesterol (HDL). Despite the fact that saturated fats raise good cholesterol, they don’t raise it enough for us to warrant you eating it.
The problem with margarine lies with its level of trans fat, largely a man-made fat. Tran’s fats are formed when hydrogen is added to vegetable oils, making the oil more solid and less likely to spoil. Tran’s fats have been shown to increase the “bad” cholesterol (LDL), and they tend to lower the “healthy” (HDL) cholesterol when eaten in large amounts.
If you are still a die hard (excuse the pun!) margarine supporter, remember the more solid a margarine is at room temperature (eg Blue Band, Palm Bloom), the more trans fat it contains. Happy spreading!
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Kim Patra is a qualified Registered Nurse and Midwife that has been living and working in Bali for almost twenty years. She now runs her own private practice and medical referral service from her Kuta office. Kim is happy to discuss any health concerns with you and she may be contacted via e-mail at info@chcbali.com”.
