Which one of these is worse for your health, butter or margarine?

groovey67

Butter, its more expensive. Oct 14 06, 9:20 AM

smartie806

The controversy over butter and margarine regarding which should be used as a spread or for cooking rests on how many cholesterol, saturated fats, and trans fatty acids each has. Butterfat contains 2-5% trans fatty acids (mainly C18:1), and butter has high levels of cholesterol and saturated fat. The FDA states that healthy people should not consume more than 200mg of cholesterol each day and butter has 33mg of cholesterol in each tablespoon. A healthy range of saturated fat intake is 10-15g each day. One tablespoon contains over 7g of saturated fat. For this reason, some people recommend that you should limit butter in your diet. This formula is called into question when foods that are very low in saturated fat, yet high in cholesterol, like shrimp, are factored into the equation. Studies have shown that actual cholesterol consumption isn't the direct cause of high cholesterol, rather it is saturated fat consumption. Vegetable shortenings do not contain any cholesterol and have only 3g of saturated fat per tablespoon. However, they are high in transfatty acids. Margarine contains no cholesterol and has low levels of saturated fat, but some products have high trans fat levels. Stick margarine contains the most trans fat; tub or liquid margarine has about two-thirds less. Trans-fat-free varieties of margarine in a tub form are available. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine Oct 14 06, 9:38 AM

smartie806

I have heard (possibly on the TV news, so I don't know the source) that the "healthy" margarines are better than butter, but butter is better than regular margarines. Oct 14 06, 9:39 AM

skysmom65

It doesn't matter one iota to me which is better healthwise....Butter tastes better so that's what I use! That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Oct 14 06, 10:18 AM

Baloo55th

Now I'm the other way. I use butter sometimes in cooking, but on bread I prefer sunflower spread - only the full fat version. Won't touch low fat or no sugar things.... Oct 14 06, 10:28 AM

skysmom65

I do like 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter'...tastes like butter to me! Oct 14 06, 11:40 AM

lanfranco

I use a lot of olive oil but have many recipes calling for butter. And there is simply no substitute. Oct 14 06, 5:32 PM

audia_felton

Both. They both have different things about them that make them poor choices, i.e. margarine is loaded with hydroginated oils, whereas butter is also full of fat. I wouldn't recommend either. Oct 14 06, 10:09 PM

helenasykes

Does it really matter which is worst? Everyone will die one day so you may as well eat whatever you want. Some may go to the extreme of eating junk everyday while others eat whatever they want in moderation but it annoys me when people bang on about eating healthily etc when they may well step out of their front door tomorrow and get run over and killed by a bus. Just like people who refuse to go in pubs because their Grandad died of lung cancer and they are worried about the effects of second hand smoke, but they know 4 people who have been killed in motor-vehicle accidents yet still drive everywhere! Talk about double standards! Oct 15 06, 3:31 PM

ItalianBabe2

Sorry, guys. Margarine's worst for you. It has chemicals in it that can kill you. I've learned this from my dad who learned it when he was in the Army in Germany. Butter's the best for you, because it's made out of milk. It doesn't matter how much it costs, because health is worth much more. Plus those doctor bills can add up. Lol. As Audia_Felton said, both is a bad choice if you want healthy healthy. Use olive oil or even avacado oil if you worried about the fat in butter. But Paula Deen will tell ya that butter is the way to go and forget the healthy way. Hoped I help! Oct 22 06, 1:37 PM