To butter or not to butter, that is the question

There are many questions in health care that have been subject to debate and the butter vs. margarine argument is one of them.

We owe it all to Emperor Napoleon III. I don't know why, but in 1870 he challenged French chemists to produce a substitute for butter. The prize went to a Frenchman, Mege-Mouriez, who used a lustrous, pearly-colored component called margaric acid (named after the Greek word for pearl margarite). Voila! Margarine was born. Within 10 years, margarine was being mass-produced in the United States; not without controversy. The arguments have seen endless twists and turns ever since.

Beginning in the early 1900s and continuing until the post World War II era, the controversies were mostly economic with the quasi-militant dairy industry duking it out with margarine manufacturers legislatively attempting to either limit production of the artificial butter or to impose excessive taxes on production, requiring special licenses for manufacturing, or inflating post production prices to the consumer. In the 21st century's version of the debate, the issues center on the questions of health: which product is less likely to contribute to the development of heart disease?

For a long time, margarine was believed to be the healthier alternative because it is made from unsaturated vegetable oils, while butter's source is animal fat. Fortunately (or unfortunately if your paycheck is covered somehow by the margarine industry), research has shown that it actually is the manner of producing margarine that is the contributing factor to the development of heart disease. Oils need to go through a process called hydrogenation to become margarine. Hydrogenation is a process that involves hydrogen, metal catalysts and heat that turn the oil into a product firmer in consistency than its original and, therefore, spreadable. The fats in these hydrogenated oils are now termed trans fats. Research that is more recent has shown that it is these "trans fats" that are the true culprits contributing to heart disease. More so than the plain, old saturated fats from butter because it is the trans fats that elevates the levels of the bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower the good cholesterol (HDL).

So what is a health conscious consumer supposed to do? Since ounce for ounce, trans fats are far worse than saturated fats when it comes to heart disease you could avoid all margarines and butter entirely and all other products known to contain trans fats. Then you would not have to deal with the issue at all. Or, if you still favor margarine, you could at least choose the softer versions (sold in tubs as apposed to stick forms), which are less hydrogenated, i.e., contain less trans fats. Or, you could use butter, but in limited quantities. Better yet, you could opt for the "buttery tasting" spreads now available that are non-hydrogenated, therefore, having no trans fats and considered to be heart healthy.

Agnes Oblas is a nurse practitioner with a private practice and residence in Ahwatukee Foothills. For questions, or if there is a topic you would like her to address, call her at (602) 405-6320 or e-mail her at agirnnp@cox.net. Her Web site is www.newpathshealth.com.