The question:
Dear Chef Mom: When my husband and I first were married, everyone said margarine was healthiest. Then they said butter was best. My son just learned in school that the current thinking is that no, margarine really is best. What's going on -- and more important, what's the healthiest choice?
Chef Mom says:
In the United States, the butter vs margarine debate has been raging for over a hundred years, since New York's U S Dairy Company began production of "artificial butter" in 1871. Regulation of this new butter-like product began almost immediately in order to protect the dairy industry. Just how controversial was it? Well, according to Margarine.org, in 1885, Congress passed the "Margarine Act of 1886," which imposed a two cent tax (per pound) on margarine and also required manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers of margarine to obtain margarine licenses. By 1902, 32 US states had margarine color bans -- no, that buttery stuff could not be colored yellow. (The bid to force margarine to be colored pink failed, fortunately.) For the next four decades, consumers colored their own margarine yellow with food coloring. In 1967, dairy state Wisconsin was the last state to repeal the restrictions on the sale, coloration and/or manufacture of margarine.
To your health
Now, to the issue of what's healthiest. This has been the topic of some debate over the years, and experts have flip-flopped. The most current data says that butter is not best -- tub margarine (not stick margarine) is actually healthiest for your heart. The difference lies in the amount of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), also known as "bad" cholesterol in each product. Dr Margo A. Denke and her colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, compared butter vs margarine as the major dietary fat intake. "Margarine intake produced significantly lower total LDL-C levels than butter intake," the authors wrote. "Margarine intake compared with butter intake lowered LDL-C levels by 11% in adults and 9% in children." The authors reiterated, "Our findings agree with those from metabolic diet studies evaluating greater and lesser percentage of calories from butter vs margarine, confirming the longstanding advice to the public at large to choose a tub margarine over butter."
Tub margarine is not to be confused with "spreads," which, in many cases, may be an even healthier choice. Spreads contain varying amounts of other ingredients -- such as water, milk, whey, gelatin and rice starch -- as filler.
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Butter burns much more easily than margarine, so, when using it to saute or grease, be extra careful watching the temperature. It also bakes a little differently to margarine, so, for example, cookies and biscuits made with butter will spread more when melted by the oven's heat. Margarine, and, to a greater degree, oil, will allow baked goods to keep their shape better. Cheri Sicard of Fabulous Foods also notes that cookies made with corn oil or corn oil margarine are softer than cookies made with butter or other types of margarines.
Butter is made from milk cream, so it is perishable -- be sure to keep it in the refrigerator. And when it comes to calories, both butter and margarine pack about 100 calories per teaspoon, although butter has about 11 grams of fat versus margarine's 10 grams.
For many people, the issue of "which one is healthiest" is moot. When it comes to taste, they know butter is the true original and say that substitutes can't compare. When consumed in moderation, who can argue with the idea of eating what tastes best?
