Everyone knows butter makes everything better.
It's one of those facts of life that's simply not up for debate. Making a batch of homemade
chocolate chip cookies? Double the butter, and you'll be in for a truly delicious treat.
Overcooked biscuits before family dinner? A quick side of butter should fix that!
Out of cream cheese for your morning bagel? Extra butter is the best way to start your day.
While butter might make your food taste better, however, it might not actually make
you feel better in the long run. That's because nutritionists suggest avoiding butter,
at least on the regular, due to its high saturated fat content.
This fat content has been heavily associated with a greater risk of health troubles down the line,
particularly heart health and cholesterol issues.
Cue margarine: a vegetable-oil based spread that began to fly off shelves thanks to its
shrewdly-marketed buttery flavor, supposedly without all of those heart-hurting fats. USDA data
shows that at the height of the craze in 1976, the average yearly margarine consumption hit 12 pounds
per person, beating about 4.5 pounds of butter. The jury's still out on whether margarine actually
matches the taste of the real thing, but for many, it's a good enough healthy alternative to butter.
But with a little research, consumers might find that their beloved I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
quickly turns to, well, I Can't Believe It's Worse Than Butter, and not just in terms of taste,
either. According to the Mayo Clinic, margarine — especially in stick form — can be packed with
trans fats, of which butter only contains minimal amounts. Trans fats are considerably
harder on your heart than saturated fats, and can lower the amount of good cholesterol in the body.
A 2016 study posted by the National Library of Medicine
showed that an increase in trans fat consumption is actually linked to increased risk for coronary
heart disease — which is the very thing that margarine was marketed to avoid.
It also has a possible association with Alzheimer's disease. This data slowly
came to light over 15 years, until the FDA finally deemed trans fats unsafe in 2015.
"In health news today, the Food and Drug Administration
moved to effectively ban artificial trans fats."
Nowadays, the FDA requires trans fat to be identified on any foods,
so always double-check your margarine to see if it's worth ditching the butter at all.
Another common margarine misconception is front and center on the label. Take a closer look at
the labels of butters and margarines, and you'll find that margarine and butter are relatively
equal in calories. This might come as a shock for those who mistakenly choose margarine over butter,
thinking that it's a "diet" version of the spread. While some margarines offer lower calories,
they typically have the same count as butter, at a whopping 100 calories per tablespoon.
It's also worth knowing that, like most good things in life,
even butter isn't all that bad for you, in moderation. The calorie count is still a hit,
sure, and it should be avoided by those with health and cholesterol concerns,
but on the day-to-day, the right organic butter can be a great source of healthy saturated fats.
As more research is released regarding what's actually in butter versus its supposedly
low-calorie alternative, it appears that more consumers are starting to cross off margarine
and add the real thing back to their shopping lists. Canada's The Western Producer reports that,
despite the best efforts of margarine brands, butter sales jumped a notable 12.4% in 2020.
Unilever, one of the largest consumer goods giants in the world, has taken note of this shift,
and actually sold their global margarine spreads business back in 2017. Their popular
butter alternative brands I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and Country Crock were sold to KKR,
an investment firm looking to revitalize the dwindling margarine market. KKR have had some
small successes in positioning margarine as a "plant-based" option, rather than a healthier
butter alternative, but the nutrition facts remain exactly the same. For now, butter really is
back — and until a genuinely healthy alternative can be developed, it looks like it's here to stay.
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