Margarine and Butter

[leetj]

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
flavorings.


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


Read on to the end...gets very interesting!

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.... HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY
INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..


This fact alone was 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 weenie micro-organisms will not
find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your
Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

[healthusiast]

Good one...

However, the controversy over which is better is still ongoing. Have a look at what this article <a href="http://www.hewo.com/en/article.aspx?id=371">Butter vs Margarine: Which is Better?</a> said.

[EvcRo]

I'll go for the butter...in small portions is healthy, not mentioning that the taste is much better than what margarine can offer...
Don't forget that margarine supposed to be only a substitute for butter in World War 2 

[amanda]

margarine has always been popular because it is a cheaper butter substitute. although it is said to be that butter is healthier, there isn't a great deal of scientific evidence to back up this point of view.