Margarine or butter?
From Agora Lifestyle Limited's Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
If you answered "butter," I've got some information that will make you glad you did.
Last week an me-Alert reader sent me an e-mail that had been forwarded multiple times, but appears to have originated from Dr L. Eugene Arnold; a Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Ohio State University in the US. Here's what Dr. Arnold
writes:
"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!
* For most people, butter tastes better than
margarine and it can enhance the flavours of other foods. (The best flavour claim margarine can make in ads is that it tastes the same as butter.)
* 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)
* Lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good
cholesterol).
* Increases the risk of cancers by up to five
fold.
* Lowers quality of breast milk.
* Decreases immune response.
* Decreases insulin response.
"And 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.
Nothing will grow on it - not even those teeny weeny 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?
"Share This With Your Friends - (Butter them up.)
"Additional info: Children who eat butter or drink whole milk with butterfat have better resistance to infection.
"P.S. This was not sponsored by the dairy industry."
I've heard some of these facts before, but some of them were new to me, so I asked HSI Panelist Dr Allan Spreen for his take on the list, and he didn't hesitate: "Absolutely true. The guy's read my book. In it, I call margarine 'plastic butter.'
It's very, very bad stuff. I cheat and have to drink city water sometimes. But I try never to do that with margarine."