Butter vs margarine

[Gary Whitta]

I usually wouldn't post the forwarded "did you know" emails I get on a regular basis, but I thought this one was interesting as I have always been a proponent of butter vs margarine - primarily on taste alone, but if any of the facts below are indeed true it makes me feel better about my choice.

Comments on this? How much, if any, of this is bullshit?


Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed
the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback.
So they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this
product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food
appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in
place of butter.

DO YOU KNOW... the difference between margarine and butter?

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) and lowers
HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)

Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.

Lowers quality of breast milk.

Decreases immune response.

Decreases insulin response.

And here's the most disturbing fact....

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..

This fact alone was enough to have me avoid 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 micro-organisms 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?

[tromik]

Alton Brown says butter is better for you than margarine. He also says you can eat as much salt as you want with no ill effects (unless you have a genetic, pre-existing condition).

But didn't he have a major heart attack a couple of years ago?

[Fugitive]

The Snopes take (http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/butter.asp) on it.

[Marcus Walser]

Mostly bullshit, margarine tastes bad, don't eat it, but don't eat whole sticks of butter either, etc etc.

[Case]

And there's really no one butter substitute any more, but many.

[Xaroc]

And there's really no one butter substitute any more, but many.

This sounds like a job for ... the supertaster!

[Moore]

Gary, really, just use some real lube.

[Ed Solomon]

Bring me the margarine.

Yeah, it doesn't really sound right.

[Jojo]

I eat both, more out fo habit really. I do know that when I signed up with a personal trainer and he gave me a healthy eating diet, it specified butter not marg. The idea was that butter is better for you (less chemical crap) but you just can't be liberal with it since its saturated fat. But that fits in with the healthy eating lifestyle anyway, everything in moderation.

[Alan Au]

I prefer butter, partly because I think it tastes better. Also, I haven't had much luck using margarine in cooking, probably because it's really just vegetable oil + food coloring + chemicals.

- Alan

[wonderpug]

I prefer butter, partly because I think it tastes better. Also, I haven't had much luck using margarine in cooking, probably because it's really just vegetable oil + food coloring + chemicals.
And in the olden days you used to have to add the food coloring yourself!

[Glenn]

And here's the most disturbing fact....

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC.Did you know APPLE SEEDS contain CYANIDE?!?

This fact alone was enough to have me avoid margarine for life and anything
else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the
molecular structure of the substance).Don't fool yourself, kids. If given half a chance, that hydrogen atom would kill you and everyone you care about.

[Ben Sones]

The "one molecule away from being plastic" bit is silly, but he's right that butter (in moderation) is better for your health than a like quantity of margarine. Also, margarine is awful for baking.

[Jojo]

Margarine is better for spreading though, that's all I can offer in its defense. I use it for toast and sandwiches. My mum keeps her butter out of the fridge, in one of those china butter dishes, so it is always soft and spreadable, but for some reason I can't bring myself to do that. It seems somehow wrong, like keeping milk out of the fridge. Anyone else keep butter out of the fridge?

[Ben Sones]

Margarine is better for spreading

So is poop, but I wouldn't put it on my toast. ;)

[DeepT]

Margarine is better for spreading though, that's all I can offer in its defense. I use it for toast and sandwiches. My mum keeps her butter out of the fridge, in one of those china butter dishes, so it is always soft and spreadable, but for some reason I can't bring myself to do that. It seems somehow wrong, like keeping milk out of the fridge. Anyone else keep butter out of the fridge?


Butter will not go bad the way milk does out of the fridge. It can go rancid, which means the fats get oxidized which makes it taste nasty, however, the doesn't spoil in the sense that mold or something nasty is growing on it.

I know some Jehovah's Witnesses, and they do not refrigerate butter at all. They keep it in the pantry. This where I found out it did not need to be refrigerated.

[Jojo]

I know rationally, that its OK to keep it out of the fridge, but some irrational part of my mind freaks out at the idea. I also associate it with my mother and grandmother's generation (all of my friends keep it in the fridge) which is why I was curious if anyone else here keeps butter out of the fridge.

[LarryLard]

Butter used to be kept in larders, but in these modern times no one has a storage area at the temperature that larders were. Similar thing as with red wine: serve at room temperature, sure, but like Victorian room temperature.

[Fugitive]

Butter used to be kept in larders, but in these modern times no one has a storage area at the temperature that larders were. Similar thing as with red wine: serve at room temperature, sure, but like Victorian room temperature.
My grandparents' house had a larder in the basement, but everyone just called it the 'cool room'. They still kept the butter in the kitchen cabinets for convenience though.

[André Costa]

Over here, well in my house at least, butter is for eating(spreading ?), margarine is for cooking.

[Marcus Walser]

Over here, well in my house at least, butter is for eating(spreading ?), margarine is for cooking.

Cooking /what/? The only thing it has going for it is smoke point, and even on that front you're better off with vegetable oil, since it isn't trying quite so hard to kill you.

[bigdruid]

NPR says that margarine with trans fats make better donuts than butter, because they have a better "mouth feel".

I don't think I even *tasted* butter outside of restaurants growing up - my parents only bought margarine. I only buy butter now, though, unless a recipe explicitly calls for margarine for some reason. We keep the butter in the fridge, except for one stick which we keep at room temperature for spreading on toast, and which invariably goes rancid within a week or two.

[eliandi]

We use butter for the reasons other have mentioned. We also keep the "active" stick at room temp, but the stored sticks in the fridge. My family uses butter, but I stopped using it years ago and have never desired it since. In cooking, I mostly use a little olive oil if a oil is needed.

[Marcus Walser]

NPR says that margarine with trans fats make better donuts than butter, because they have a better "mouth feel".


This is absolutely the opposite of everything I've been taught in baking and pastry classes. Baked goods made with hydrogenated oils don't melt in your mouth, because their melting point is above 100* F or so; your body doesn't get hot enough to melt them. They therefore have a tendency to coat the inside of your mouth, giving baked goods a "waxy" texture. Butter, otoh, melts at around 89* F and softens substantially by 80* F, so baked goods made with butter are, you know, not disgusting.

[Cosmic Hippo]

Margarine isn't nearly as bad as most of the alarmists will have you believe, but I think overall butter is still a better choice.

[BaconTastesGood]

Margarine isn't nearly as bad as most of the alarmists will have you believe, but I think overall butter is still a better choice.

Awesome rebuttal. A.) paint the naysayers as 'alarmists' and B.) comment that things aren't nearly as bad without substantiating claims.

[Patrick]

Awesome rebuttal. A.) paint the naysayers as 'alarmists' and B.) comment that things aren't nearly as bad without substantiating claims.

Fixed your name for you.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Fixed your name for you.
No, I'd say you broke it.

[Leah C]

It seems somehow wrong, like keeping milk out of the fridge. Anyone else keep butter out of the fridge?

I had an ongoing butter battle with my first housemate. I kept putting it in the fridge and he'd take it out again and leave it on the counter. Over and over and over. Every goddamned day. Eventually, we got separate butter.

I keep mine out now because my fridge is old and gross and if I put the butter in there, it gets funky fridge taste and that is a far worse offense than room temp butter.

[Wholly Schmidt]

I had an ongoing butter battle with my first housemate. Oh man. This thread is worthless without—I kept putting it in the fridge and he'd take it out again—oh. He? Nevermind.

[Lunch of Kong]

I keep mine out now because my fridge is old and gross and if I put the butter in there, it gets funky fridge taste and that is a far worse offense than room temp butter.

I keep most of my butter in the freezer, but leave about one quarter stick's worth out at room temperature in a container, in the pantry next to the olive oil.

[dannimal]

Summer aside, we leave our "in use" butter out, and the rest in the fridge. During the summer, when the butter would just melt into a mess, it stays in the fridge all the time.

[Athryn]

I keep mine on the counter, as did my mum. I only rarely keep any in the fridge. If it isn't on the counter, it's in the freezer, where it will stay fresher longer than it would in the fridge.

[bloo]

I use Smart Balance Light. First listed ingredient: water.
Am I going to die?

[Wholly Schmidt]

I use Smart Balance Light. First listed ingredient: water.
Am I going to die?
Eventually.

[Funkula]

I have cats, so the butter goes in the fridge. They can open cabinets (hiding in cookware is a popular pastime here) but they haven't mastered the fridge yet.

[Wholly Schmidt]

I have cats, so the butter goes in the fridge. They can open cabinets (hiding in cookware is a popular pastime here) but they haven't mastered the fridge yet.
You know, instead of putting lots of things in the fridge, you could just keep the cats in there.

[Cosmic Hippo]

Awesome rebuttal. A.) paint the naysayers as 'alarmists' and B.) comment that things aren't nearly as bad without substantiating claims.Oh, sorry, didn't realize this was a P&R thread. Anyway, the nutrition facts speak for themselves, and that snopes article sums it up nicely. And by the alarmists, I meant the people (they do exist) out there who completely avoid ever eating margarine because of how "unnatural" it is or the things they've heard about it.. or the "one molecule away from plastic" thing. Like I said, I prefer butter myself, but health-wise it doesn't really matter that much as long as you look at nutrition facts and control intake. If you want me to actually post sources, you're going to have to wait until I'm feeling a lot less lazy.

[Qmanol]

You know, sugar is only one molecule away from Dioxin! Or nerve gas! Or... anything really, because sugar is only one molecule anyway. WTF does 'one molecule away from' even mean?

[krayzkrok]

Alarmist statistical proclamations about food prey on those who don't understand how statistics can be manipulated to manufacture meaning from meaninglessness.

[Major Icehole]

Butter FTW! margerine is just nasty. We keep the in-use stick on the counter in a ceramic butter dish as long as temps allow. I usually have a pound or two in the freezer. I like to buy it when it's on sale.
A combination of butter and olive oil for sauteing veggies is just about divine.