As leader of my TOPS group, one of the things I strongly
advocate is for every member to offer suggestions for meeting topics, to bring
problems or success stories to the meetings for discussion. It’s difficult to come up with a different,
informative and hopefully interesting topic every week. I never mind being interrupted when something
I’ve mentioned happens to pull a thread and the discussion veers off in a
direction I had not planned. And, most
importantly, I never ever mind if someone wants to lead the meeting for one
week. It gives me a little break and its
fun listening to what other people find to bring to the table.
When I plan my meeting topics I try to do as much research
as I can because I do not want to impart false information to my members. Group members who disagree with what I am
saying sometimes shoot me down, but that’s what always leads to those lively
discussions. Weight loss and dieting is
by no means an exact science. What
succeeds for one person may not for someone else? Lively discussion or not, agreement or not,
the one thing I can fall back on is my research.
A couple of weeks ago our sole male group member asked if he
could read something he had been sent in an email from a friend of his who is
also on a weight loss journey. He
thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss. Of course I immediately said yes.
The following is the email that he read to the group. I include it in its entirety so you can make
up your own mind.
Pass the butter please …
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.
How do you like
it? They have come out with some clever
new flavoring.
Do you know the difference between
margarine and butter?
Read on to the end … it gets
very interesting.
1. Both have the same amount of calories.
2. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats
at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams for margarine.
3. Eating margarine can increase heart disease
in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent
Harvard Medical Study.
4. Eating butter increases the absorption of
many other nutrients in food.
5. Butter has many nutritional benefits where
margarine has a few and only because they are added.
6. Butter tastes much better than margarine and
it can enhance the flavours of other foods.
7. Butter has been around for centuries where
margarine has been around for less than 100 years.
And now, for Margarine;
1. Margarine is very high in trans fatty acids.
2. Margarine triples the risk of coronary heart
disease.
3. Margarine increases total cholesterol and LDL
(this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL (the good cholesterol).
4. Margarine increases the risk of cancers up to
five times.
5. Margarine lowers the quality of breast milk.
6. Margarine decreases immune response.
7. Margarine decreases insulin response.
And here’s the most disturbing
fact … here is the part that is VERY interesting!
8. Margarine is but one molecule away from
being plastic and shares 27 ingredients with paint.
These facts alone were enough to
have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated
(this means hydrogen being added, changing the molecular structure of the
substance).
You can try this yourself:
Purchase a tub of margarine and
leave it open in your garage or shaded area.
Within a couple of days you will notice 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 weenie 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?
Chinese Proverb: When someone shares something of value with
you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with
others.
Now, I know there are many products marketed as “food” which
are questionable. Yes, they are edible,
that’s about all you can say about them.
I found this a little frightening because I happen to margarine. Not that I prefer its taste over butter, and
goodness knows the price is certainly not a determining factor. I prefer it for the simple fact that it is always
spreadable. In my eyes, that’s its
one redeeming quality. I can take it out
of the fridge and spread it on my toast in the morning. Now I had to try and weigh that CONVENIENCE
against all the horrible things I had just heard.
One thing that our region does for TOPS leaders is to
collect a meeting idea from each group, copy them and distribute the collection
of ideas to other group leaders for potential meeting discussion ideas. As I was going through the binder to gather
ideas what did I find but a copy of the very same email printed off, indicating
that it had been read at another TOPS meeting as well. Obviously, this email is circulating quite
efficiently!
What S. read to the group led to one of the aforementioned
lively discussions with the group split pretty evenly down the middle in the
pro and con departments. Despite the
fact that this article allegedly came straight from a Harvard study, to me, it
had a bit of an “urban myth” taste to it.
Not purposely trying to discredit the information he brought to the
table, but I just felt a need to check into it a little bit further. I was a little surprised at what I found …
The above quoted compilation began circulating on the
Internet in June 2003, often under the title
“Butter vs. Margarine,” and
surprisingly enough there was a fair bit of truth to it, at least a the time. According to the latest finding in the
medical world in 2003, margarine could increase the risk of heart
disease, depending upon the type of fat contained in the spread. Previously, the dietary villain in the
development of coronary disease was presumed to be saturated fat, but new
evidence points the finger at trans fat (also known as trans fatty acids). Although butter has its own set of dietary
shortcomings, it does not contain trans fat.
Margarine was once written off as a plastic-like substance
linked to clogged arteries and increased health risks.
But the product has undergone a major transformation in
recent years, so much so that many brands are starting to more closely resemble
a health product than a high-fat butter like spread. Today’s margarines contain only traces of
maligned trans fats, are fortified with essential fatty acids – particularly
omega-3 – and vitamins, and are sometimes even infused with olive oil. Most brands are also relatively low in
saturated fats or calories and contain no cholesterol. Numerous types of margarine carry the Heart
and Stroke Foundation’s Health Check seal, a designation that tells consumers
the product has met its nutrition criteria.
Product labels are also designed to boast about the healthy changes.
Does that mean the age-old debate over the health benefits
of butter versus margarine is finally over?
The short answer is no.
Margarine has been around for more almost 200 years and came
into widespread (no pun intended) use following the Second World War largely
because of its low price and purported health benefits.
But public opinion changed in recent years when concern over
the high levels of trans fats in many margarine brands reached a fever
pitch. Companies went back to the
drawing board, reformulated products and put a major emphasis on the health
aspects of margarine.
Yet, camps remain divided on whether margarine’s evolution
represents real benefits for consumers.
One of the main points of contention is the type of omega-3
fatty acid found in margarine. Most of
it comes from plant sources, such as canola or soybean oil, which many health
experts say is less beneficial to health than omega-3 derived from fish.
Unilever Canada has been actively promoting the health
aspects of margarine, particularly with its Becel line of products. Nearly all Becel products contain omega-3,
but only one, Becel Omega-3plus, contains fatty acids from fish oil, not plant
oil.
To boost its health profile, the margarine industry has also
taken to promoting the fact it’s low in saturated fat, a thinly veiled jab at
butter. Like most dairy products, butter
has a relatively high amount of saturated fats, which have been associated with
a higher risk of heart disease and other serious health problems.
BUT, the margarine maker’s jabs may be a moot point –
growing evidence suggests saturated fat may not be as harmful as once
thought. Recent research found the risk
of heart disease or stroke was similar between people who consumed the highest
and lowest amounts of saturated fat.
That type of research provides ammunition to the dairy
industry, which has faced a butter backlash due in large part to its high
saturated fat content.
I found the best breakdown on the truth or fiction issue
provided by
www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/b/butter-margarine
however, even their article was a little outdated. I will follow their format and go through the
original email with more current information.
Step by step …
1. Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten
turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the
people who had put all the money in 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.
FICTION - Margarine originated with the discovery, by
French chemist Eugene Chevreul in 1813, of margaric acid. Emperor Louis Napoleon III of France offered
a prize to anyone who could make a satisfactory substitute for butter, suitable
for use by the armed forces and the lower classes. French chemist Hippolyte Mege-Mouries
invented a substance he called oleomargarine, the name of which became shorted
to the trade name “margarine”.
Mege-Mouries patented the concept in 1869 and expanded his initial
manufacturing operation from France but had little commercial success. In 1871, he sold the patent to the Dutch
company Jurgens, now part of Unilever.
In the same year the German pharmacist Benedict Klein from Cologne
founded the first margarine factory “Benedict Klein Margarinewerke”, producing
the brands Overstolz and Botteram.
The principal raw material in the original formulation of
margarine was beef fat. Shortages in
supply combined with advance by Boyce and Sabatier in the hydrogenation of
plant materials soon led to the introduction of vegetable oils to the process,
and between 1900 and 1920 oleomargarine was produced from a combination of
animal fats and hardened and unhardened vegetable oils. The depression of the 1930’s, followed by the
rationing of WWII, led to a reduction in supply of animal fat; and, by 1945,
“original” margarine almost complete disappeared from the market. In the U.S. problems with supply, coupled
with changes in legislation, caused manufacturers to switch almost completely
to vegetable oils and fats by 1950. The
industry was ready for an era of product development.
The competition between major producers was given impetus
with the beginning of commercial television advertising in 1955; and throughout
the 1950s and 1960s, competing companies vied with each other produce the
margarine that tasted the most like butter.
IN 1978, an 80% fat product called KRONA, made by churning a
blend of dairy cream and vegetable oils, was introduced in Europe; and, in
1982, a blend of cream and vegetable oils called CLOVER was introduced in the
UK by the milk marketing board. The vegetable oil and cream spread “I Can’t Believe It’s Not
Butter” was introduced in Canada in 1991.
2. Both margarine and butter have the same amount of calories.
FACT – A tablespoon of butter
has 100 calories and a tablespoon of margarine has 100 calories.
3. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53%
over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical
Study.
FACT BUT UPDATED – I did not
come across the “53%” study, but the Harvard School of Public Health published
a report on this. It states that more
than 30 years ago research indicated that saturated fat (such as butter) was
bad for the heart and people were told to switch to margarine. A Harvard study of women between 1980 and
1994 found a significant reduction in heart disease risk by reducing smoking,
hormone treatment, and dietary improvements including reducing or eliminating
saturated fat (such as in butter).
Further research has shown, however, that some margarines contained
trans fat, which was even worse for the heart than saturated fat – we can
assume this had some bearing over the inclusion of the 53% in the original
quote. Over the past decade, margarine
spreads have gone through many developments in efforts to improve their
healthfulness. Most brands have phased
out the use of hydrogenated oils, and are now also trans fat free. As well, many brands have launched
refrigerator-stable margarine spreads that contain only 1/3 of the fat and
calorie content of traditional spreads.
As mentioned previously, other varieties of spreads include those with
added Omega-3 fatty acids, those with low or no salt, those with added plant
sterols, claimed to reduce blood cholesterol, and some made from olive oil or
certified vegan oils.
4. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats …
FACT – A tablespoon of butter
is 7g of saturated fat. A tablespoon of
margarine is 2g of saturated fat.
5. Eating butter increases the absorption of many other
nutrients in other foods.
FACT BUT WITH AN EXPLANATION
– A recent study made by the American Journal of Clinical nutrition shows that
dietary fact helps the absorption of vitamins from fruits and vegetables. Fat, along with carbohydrates and protein are
considered the three macronutrients essential in everyone’s diet. Fat plays many roles in the body such as providing
energy, regulating body temperatures, protecting internal organs and aiding in
the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins.
With the changes made to the composition of margarine in recent years, I
think it would be safe to assume the playing field is level in the matter of
butter and margarine.
6. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a
few, only because they have been added.
UNDECIDED – It depends on
what you are measuring. The advantage of
butter is that it is a more natural product than margarine and does have higher
vitamin content. But butter is high in
saturated fat. Heart doctors have
started recommending butter over original margarine BUT recommend trans fat
free margarines over butter. It all gets
very confusing so watch your labels.
7. Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance
the flavors of other foods.
UNDECIDED – As is so often
the case when discussing food, that is a matter of personal preference.
8. Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has
been around for less than 100 years.
FICTION – This was covered under
the first point, but margarine has been around since at least 1813, making it
almost 200 years old. Granted, a
relative newcomer when compared to butter.
9. Margarine is high in trans fatty acids.
FICTION – As mentioned
previously, this may have been the case originally, and my still be the case
for some margarines on the market. But
science and research and current technology have taken this argument off the
table. Again … read your food labels!
10. Margarine triples the risk of coronary disease.
11.
Margarine increases total cholesterol and LDL and lowers HDL
cholesterol.
12.
Margarine increases the risk of cancer up to five-fold.
FICTION – Even before the
changes made to eliminate trans fatty acids, there was no conclusive studies
done to substantiate the “triples the risk” or the “five-fold” claims. The cholesterol issue has been addressed with
the changes in the trans fatty acids issue.
13. Margarine lowers the quality of breast milk.
FACT AT THE TIME BUT SINCE AMENDED
– In one study done comparing Canadian breast milk to Chinese breast milk,
Canadian mothers had 33 more trans fats in their milk than the Chinese
mothers. So the quality of the breast
mil can be affected by the consumption of trans fats. Of course, the quality of breast milk is
affected both negatively and positively by anything ingested by the nursing
mother. Although I labeled this point as
a “FACT” with the reduction of trans fatty acids
in margarine the statement definitely needs to be amended.
14. Margarine decreases immune response.
15. Margarine decreases insulin response.
FACT AT THE TIME BUT NOW FICTION –
These have both been addressed and eliminated with the changes made to
margarine with regards to the trans fatty acids content.
16. Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC.
FICTION – These types of
statements (even if they were true) are essentially meaningless. Many disparate substances share similar
chemical properties, but even the slightest variation in molecular structure
can make a world of difference in the qualities of those substances. This statement is more than likely a
hyperbole tossed in by the author in an effort to make his point more
strongly. The claim that some product is
“but a single molecule away” from being a decidedly inedible (or even toxic)
substance has been applied to a variety of processed foods. The following are all quotes from emails
submitted to
www.snopes.com, the premier
Internet site for “myth-busting”:
“I was told that the difference between Cool Whip and
Styrofoam is one molecule … is this true?” (November 2005)
“Is Velveeta Processed Cheese food really one molecule
different from plastic?” (December 2006)
“I heard Pam spray is 1 molecule away from plastic and is therefore
dangerous?”
(March 2007)
“I am tired of hearing my husband say the Cheez Whiz is only
2 ingredients different from garbage bags.
Can you please set him straight?” (January 2008)
Perhaps whoever wrote this heard a discussion about the
“plasticity” of margarine. It is
“Plastic” at room temperature meaning that the shape of it can be changed when
pressure is applied. That does not mean
it is composed of what we normally think of as plastic. It was, after all, originally made of animal
fats but increasingly now is made from vegetable oils.
So … this long tome of a blog post (and it really turned out
much longer than I ever anticipated or intended … so thanks for bearing with
me, if you made it this far) is the outcome of my research on the Butter vs.
Margarine debate. It has cleared up some
misconceptions in my mind. At the risk
of making a long blog post even longer, I also came across some interesting
tidbits of information that didn’t really fit into my answer to the ongoing
debate. If you’re interested I include
them below:
Since margarine intrinsically appears white or almost white,
by forbidding the addition of artificial coloring
agents, legislators found
that they could protect the dairy industries by discouraging the consumption of
margarine based on lack of visual appeal.
Bans on color became commonplace in the U.S., Australasia, Canada and
Denmark and, in some cases, those bans endured for almost 100 years. It did not become legal to sell colored
margarine in Australia, for example, until the 1960s. The rivalry between the dairy industry and
the oleomargarine industry persists even today.
In Canada margarine was banned from 1886 until 1948 though
this ban was temporarily lifted from 1917 until 1923 due to dairy
shortages. Nevertheless, bootleg
margarine was produced in the neighboring
Dominion of Newfoundland from whale,
seal and fish oil by the Newfoundland Butter Company and was smuggled to Canada
where it was widely sold for half the price of butter. The Supreme Court of Canada lifted the
margarine ban in 1948 in the Margarine Reference. In 1950, as a result of a court ruling giving
provinces the right to regulate the product, rules were implemented in much of
Canada regarding margarine’s color, requiring it to be bright yellow or orange
in some provinces or colorless in others.
By the 1980s, most provinces had lifted the restriction, however, in
Ontario it was not legal to sell butter-colored margarine until 1995. Quebec, the last Canadian province to
regulate margarine coloring, repealed its law requiring margarine to be
colorless in July 2008.
In the United States as early as 1877, the first U.S. states
had passed laws to restrict the sale and labeling of margarine. By the mid 1880s, the U.S. federal government
had introduced a tax of two cents per pound, and manufacturers needed an
expensive license to make or sell the product.
Individual states began to require the clear labeling of margarine. The color bans, drafted by the butter lobby,
began in the dairy states of New York and New Jersey. In several states, legislatures enacted laws
to require margarine manufacturers to add pink colorings to make the product
look unpalatable, but the Supreme Court struck down New Hampshire’s law and
overruled these measures. Some localities
required restaurants using margarine to post signs reading “Artificial Butter
Used Here”.
By the start of the 20th century, eight out of
ten Americans could not buy yellow margarine, and those that
could had to pay a
hefty tax on it. Bootleg colored
margarine became common, and manufacturers began to supply food-coloring
capsules so that the consumer could knead the yellow color into margarine
before serving it. Nevertheless, the
regulations and taxes had a significant effect; the 1902 restrictions on
margarine color, for example, cut annual U.S. consumption by one-third.
With the coming of WWI, margarine consumption increased
enormously, even in countries away from the front like the U.S. In the countries closest to the fighting,
dairy products became almost unobtainable and were strictly rationed. The UK, for example, depended on imported
butter from Australia and New Zealand, and the risk of submarine attack meant
little survived the trip.
The long-running battle between the margarine and dairy
lobbies continued: In the U.S., the
Great Depression brought a renewed wave of pro-dairy legislation; the Second
World War, a swing back to margarine.
Post-war, the margarine lobby gained power and, little by little, the
main margarine restrictions were lifted, the most recent states to do so being
Minnesota in 1963 and Wisconsin in 1967.
Lois Dowdle Cobb of Atlanta Georgia led the move to lift the restriction
on margarine, but some unenforced laws still remain on the books. (
www.wikipedia.org)
Who knew, something I so took for granted had such a
controversial and interesting history.
But, after what amounts to 4000 words later I can feel better about
enjoying the convenience of spreading margarine on my toast in the morning.
And that having been said … someone had to introduce me to
the “Butter Bell Crock”.
Sheesh …. Does this Butter vs. Margarine controversy ever
end???????
