The debate over which is better for our health, margarine or butter, has been going on for years. Well I decided to look into and find out what the big deal is. Margarine is made from plant based oils like soya, canola and olive oil. Since the oils are in a liquid form, they are infused with a molecule of hydrogen so it would stay solid at room temperature and will only meld when it warmed. Because this hydrogen is added it increases the amount of trans fats in the margarine (taking in too much trans fats leads to increased risk of heart disease) and this has been one of the biggest reasons medical professional don’t like it. But now many manufacturers of margarine have changed the formulation to reduce the trans fats.
Another thing that kept on appearing when I was looking over the internet was that margarine had only 1 molecule difference from margarine. For people who didn’t like chemistry, just because there is one molecule difference between the two doesn’t make margarine plastic. It is how these different molecules are constructed that makes it into plastic or margarine. The biggest reason people prefer to use margarine is because it is low in calories, saturated and trans fats compared to butter.
Butter is made from milk. It is high in calories and saturated fats but no trans fats because its naturally semi solid at room temperature there is no need to add hydrogen to it. Over the past few years more companies are coming out with reduced calories and fats in butter. So if you have more of a choice. In the end it is up to you what you preferred and chose to consume. But as it applies to all things good and bad, everything must be done in moderation. I found this website that shows the history of margarine if anyone’s interested.
I also had heard that margarine was one molecule away from being plastic but I didn’t know if I could believe that or not. I prefer butter to margarine because butter seems more natural and frankly it just tastes better. Butter may be higher in fat but it is good to know that there are options for buying butter such as fat reduced. There is other alternatives as well like oils (canola or olive) but I guess you can’t use oil as a substitute all the time like putting it on your toast in the morning.
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