Comments on: Butter vs. Margarine Showdown

By: Josh

Josh — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:26:21 +0000

The quoted statistics are listed as confounding variables, not as dependent variables. In other words, glucose intolerance as well as cigarette and alcohol consumption, which are risk factors for heart disease, were working against the people who ate butter. So, even if there was really no difference between margarine and butter, margarine “should” appear to be better for you, just from the selection bias of people participating in heart-healthy activities in addition to eating margarine. However, the fact that the butter group is still better for your heart indicates that butter is very much more heart-healthy than margarine.

By: Roberta at Redefined Foodie

Roberta at Redefined Foodie — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 22:24:18 +0000

When are people going to ask the big questions? Why don’t chickens lay egg whites? Why don’t cows produce fat free milk and margarine? I’m no rocket scientist but I would think it’s because they were not intended to be eaten that way. Whole fats are the best stabilizers of blood sugars. Thanks for the article.

By: Lauren Ayers

Lauren Ayers — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 03:57:15 +0000

Much as I like butter and abhor margarine, I don’t think this particular study gives butter a boost. I read it three times but it still seems to say that those who ate the MOST margarine had the LEAST problem with pre-diabetes, tobacco addiction, alcohol use:

“People who ate the least margarine had the highest prevalence of glucose intolerance (pre-diabetes), smoked the most cigarettes, drank the most alcohol, and ate the most saturated fat and butter.”

In other words, I think for butter to look better than margarine, the results would need to be the reverse.

By: Frederica Huxley

Frederica Huxley — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:43:30 +0000

Here we are, two years after this great article, and the Danish and UK governments are seriously introducing legislation in both countries to put a tax on all saturated fats! It beggars belief, but once again follow the money.

By: Huh

Huh — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:00:07 +0000

So, this is replicated customarily in other controlled studies, and yet, margarine is usually recommended over butter because the evil margarine producers control everything, or what?

By: Walter Jeffries

Walter Jeffries — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:42:15 +0000

I’m a butter fan too. Margarine’s just ‘okay’ but butter is delicious. Depending on what we are cooking we tend to use back fat, leaf lard, butter or olive oil. I wouldn’t say that margarine is ‘evil’ but I’m not fond of it.

The back fat and leaf lard are from our pigs and 90% of their diet is pasture/hay. 7% of their diet is dairy (whey, milk, cream, butter, cheese…) from pastured goats and cows so that is effectively more pasture. Almost all of the rest of their diet (3%) is pumpkins, beets, turnips and other good things we grow. I have found a lab who will do the tests and one of these days I’m going to send them samples to test for Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Omega-6, etc. Given that our pigs eat so much healthy pasture and their dairy comes from pastured sources I suspect the pig fat and meat will be high in the good fatty acids. It will be interesting to see.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com

By: OPKitchen

OPKitchen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:33:32 +0000

Margarine ::shudder:: @foodiggity: RT @Zacharycohen Butter vs. Margarine Showdown http://ff.im/-aW2S7

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

By: mahmommy

mahmommy — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:55:36 +0000

margarine= heart disease – go see the Butter vs. Margarine Showdown http://tinyurl.com/ykgmmjx

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:08:24 +0000

Kitty,

Regarding long-term results, consider the context. Butter and other naturally saturated animals fats have been consumed by humans for eons (and remember, butter is a mammal milk fat and last time I checked, we were mammals!), but artificial butter/margerine has a relatively short dietary history that begins in the Industrial Age in mid-19th century (for artificial butter made with other animal fats and flavorings) and really takes off in the early-mid 20th century (with hydrogenated plant oils in wha twe know call margerine). I’ll put my odds on the natural fats with the long dietary history vs. the industrially manufactured fats with the short dietary history any day.

Also, be sure to read Stephan’s entire post on this study, not just the excerpt on this blog. Stephan has a host of posts and comments that discuss the healthful virtues of butter backed by by science (if not by the industries that profit from the processing of commodity and waste products like soybean and corn oil).

By: tina

tina — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:52:02 +0000

Eleanor – organic is not enough. The butter needs to be pastured. It’s more important to me to have my butter come from cows that are grass-fed.

Organic simply means that the grains (corn and soy) fed to the cows are organic. Not good enough!