I recevied this e-mail today and it makes for some interesting reading, especially for those who eat low fat and shun healthy animal fats. I did not validate any of the facts in the note, I just wanted to post it to stimulate a healthy open discussion.

Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in
saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams. Eating margarine can
increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of
butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study. 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! Butter tastes much better than margarine and it
can enhance the flavors of other foods. Butter has been around for
centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.


And now, for Margarine..

Very high in trans fatty acids...
Triple risk of coronary heart disease.
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol)
Lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) ...
Increases the risk of cancers by up to five fold...
Lowers quality of breast milk...
Decreases immune response...
Decreases insulin response.

HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC.......And
margarine is initially BLACK, but it is DYED YELLOW to look like
butter.

These facts alone were 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 substance)..

YOU can try this yourself: purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in
your garage or 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 find a home to
grow.

Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and
spread that on your toast?



Share This With Your Friends.....(Butter them up!)

Dogs will lick a butter wrapper.

they won't touch margarine.

'nuff proof for me.

(same is true for tofutti, by the way.)

I stopped using margarine, for the most part, about 30 years ago. I argued with my aunt about this for 15 years using some of the same arguments as above.

Finally, one day, she bought a lot of Promise Margarine (supposed to be the best, most heart health margarine at the time, right). Promise was usually very expensive and it was on sale. I had told her about buying butter on sale and freezing it and she figured she could do the same thing with the Promise.

Well, she took the Promise out of the freezer. She had it out for hours in a warm house. It wouldn't melt. Or rather it wouldn't melt like butter/margarine is supposed to. It had turned to plastic!!! I'm serious!!! It remained in solid shape. She poured boiling water over it. It melted like plastic!!! She put some in the microwave. It melted like plastic!!! It stunk like plastic too!!!

She never used margarine after that.

Funny, you can freeze the old fashioned, cheap stick margarine and it will unfreeze just fine, but the new stuff turns to plastic.

Black margarine...that sounds disgusting. I just wish butter wasn't so much more exspensive.

Actually, the old margarine was white and yellow would be added. In the 20's they used to sell it with little color packets!! It really makes me wonder about this new stuff!!!

I used to buy the fat-free cheese. One day I tried to make tuna melts. The 'cheese' turned to a plastic like consistency under the broiler. I thought that it would melt like real cheese, but it just got plastic like.

I like eating real food now.

I agree Dodger. . . Real food RULZ!!!!!!

I am constantly surprised by the people's ignorance. Back in elementary school I learned that adding yellow to black still makes black, I encourage you to try this. Anyone wondering whats in margarine and spreads should read the ingredient statements. I have never seen yellow dye on the list. Vitamin A beta-carotene is added by federal law according to CFR 21 standards of identity. This is to ensure that margarine is a competitive product to butter in all respects including nutritional content. Just read the nutritional panel. It also visually differentiates these two products as dairy farmers were once concerned about their livelihood. Margarine has a shelf life of six months due to mold formation. It is directly porportional to the amount of water present and the emulsion stability. Fruit flies and even dogs love the stuff. Set some on your from porch and see what happens. Trans fats are higher than butter but there is absolutely no cholesterol. In the end its a toss up. Being a serving size of 14 grams, neither item would put you over the limit. I love to hear people talking about fat free sprays used in their frying pan. Since a serving size is so small, 1.25 sprays, no nutritional claims have to be made. Yet the ingredient statement is 100% oil. Most people spray five times that amount. It is all fat, its a loophole that manufacturers love to use. Did you know water H2O is one atom away from hydrogen peroxide H2O2 but you don't drink that stuff. The large lady eating two Cinnabons at the airport has bigger things to worry about.

I have some margarine labeled 'trans fat free' and the oils used in it look healthy, but I would never use it for cooking because the oils would turn into trans fats when heated to their smoke point. As a matter of fact, I haven't been using it at all because I feel safer using butter--and the taste! Can't beat butter for taste! So much for sales saving money --Gail

I don't buy margarine, haven't for years so I don't have a label to look at, but I do remember my mom saying that when it first hit the market it was white and had a packet of yellow something that had to be mixed in. (She said there was initially an issue with the color....something about it couldn't be sold looking like butter?)

Here's a page on Scopes about this: http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/butter.asp

Yep,

The dairy industry had (still has) a strong lobby and they had laws passed that prohibited colored margarine from being sold.

Not entirely true. A while ago, when I was staying in a shabby apt, I involuntarily made the experiment made above, forgot margarine out with the lid not fully closed. I can tell you, cockroaches LOVE it!!!
And that's how I stopped eating it, even before I was aware of its dangers. Yuck.

In Quebec it is illegal to sell yellow margerine

Sorry, but a tiny bit of cholesterol versus toxic trans-fat isn't a "toss-up" for me.

I'll choose butter any time over fake food.

Although I'd estimate I only use butter once every two weeks or so . . . the rest of the time I use olive oil.