DO YOU KNOW...the difference between Margarine and Butter?

[Life Ranger]

An email that changed the way I look at margarine..........

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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 flavours of
other foods.
Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for
less than 100 years.

And now, for Margarine..

ü Very high in trans fatty acids.
ü Triple risk of coronary heart disease.
ü Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol)
ü Lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) ... Increases the
risk of cancers by up to five fold...
ü Lowers quality of breast milk...
ü Decreases immune response...
ü Decreases insulin response.

And here are the most disturbing facts....ALSO THE PART THAT IS VERY
INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC !
And margarine is initially BLACK, but it is DYED YELLOW to look like butter.

These facts alone were 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
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!)

[trex92]

i must say that the facts on margarine is a kinda skewed. The e-mail is disinformation to the benefits of margarine. As I know, butter is made from milk fat whereas margarine comes from vegetable oil. Quote from a website source "Margarine, once far cheaper than butter, is still marginally so, and contains none of the cholesterol and less of the saturated fats that have been implicated in heart disease". ;)

[La Vida Loca]

You know life ranger, you really shouldn't believe everything you read online and try living dangerously on the edge. Just eat anything you like to eat but don't gorge on it.
Somedays we all just need that extra punch in
- a bottle of coke
- a piece of brownie
- a tub of ice cream
- a bag of chips
Deep inside you know you shouldn't but hey, there's no diet police around isn't it :D

[isarahim]

I agree with trex. That pamphlet is complete hogwash.

FYI, margarine is naturally white.

FYI2, margarine is a compound. It's not more plastic than cabbage is iron.

With this type of flawed reason, we should not drink too much water because it's only one atom-pair away from alcohol. And we should not drink coffee, because coffein is only one atom-pair away from cocain.

Also the margarine types on the hypermarket shelves today generally have lower content of trans-fat than butter.

[willyleect]

For me, I find butter to be very inconvenient. It's hard and impossible to spread when just taken out of the fridge, whereas margarine have no such problem.

I go for the low-fat version of margarine made from sunflower seed oil which contain poly-unsaturated fat (good for fighting cholesterol).

[baby]

Fats should be restricted in our diets but what is living if we have to read everything on the labels. Spread, but in moderation and we'll be fine. Even if it means consuming plastic :D hey don't, just kidding.

Both butter and margarine have their pros and cons tho butter tastes much better yes?, it is not hydrogenated and so ar, does not contain trans fats. Margarine, on the other hand, is cholesterol free, lower in saturated fats.

Having too much of either is definitely a bad thing, however.

[baby]

For me, I find butter to be very inconvenient. It's hard and impossible to spread when just taken out of the fridge, whereas margarine have no such problem.
.

Ar..you haven't tried NZ's Dairy Smooth? It's butter softened with Canola oil. Spreads easily, straight from your refrigerator :D

[Life Ranger]

Dear All, I do search for supporting articles after reading the forwarded emails. My philosophy is to distinguish the unnatural compounds in today's modern foods and avoid them. We always have choices. We don't have to drink coke and say no to H2O.

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Poison in the Food: Hydrogenated Oils
How shocked would you be to learn that the U.S. population is being slowly poisoned by a single ingredient deliberately added to the human food supply?

At first, it sounds like nonsense. But then you realize, after learning more, that the World Health Organization (WHO) tried to outlaw this ingredient decades ago. You find out that hundreds of doctors, researchers and scientists are blatantly warning us about the detrimental health effects of this ingredient. And you learn that this substance causes cancer, birth defects, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and many other fatal diseases.

In fact, this substance causes a cell-by-cell failure of the human body by destroying the porosity and flexibility of healthy cell membranes. It's like tearing your body down from the inside out.

What ingredient am I talking about? Hydrogenated oils, of course. For decades, food companies (and even our own government regulators) have lied to use about hydrogenated oils, telling us this disease-causing substance was not merely safe, but actually better for your health than other sources of fat like butter. But today, we know this was nothing more than a global deception, a hijacking of science by the food manufacturers in a blatant attempt to get people to buy their high-profit products like margarine, shortening and snack crackers.

What happens when you eat hydrogenated oils?

Just how bad is this ingredient for your health? Consider this list of detrimental health effects caused by hydrogenated oils, published in this report:

Directly promotes heart disease
Promotes cancers: breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer
Results in low birth weight infants
Raises LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower HDL (good) cholesterol
Raises blood sugar levels and promotes weight gain
Interferes with the absorption of essential fatty acids and DHA
Impairs brain function and damages brain cells
Accelerates tumor growth
Accelerates the progress of type-2 diabetes
Raises serum cholesterol
Impairs immune system function
Promotes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Impairs development of the brains of fetuses
Causes gallbladder disease
Causes liver disease
Causes 30,000 deaths per year in the United States alone
Clogs blood, makes blood cells stick together
Blocks the body's creation of natural pain-reducing hormones (eicosanoids)
Causes the creation of free radicals that promote inflammation
Creates nutritional deficiencies of healthy oils and essential fatty acids (EFAs)
Promotes cystic fibrosis
Lowers essential fatty acids in the breast milk of nursing mothers
Clogs artery walls and promotes atherosclerosis
Cause gum disease and rotted teeth
Lowers tissue oxygen intake
Causes infertility
Directly damages blood vessels
Causes high blood pressure
Weaken cell walls and compromises cellular structure
Causes dandruff and acne
Protect yourself and your family right now

No one else will ever teach you this information. Your grocery store won't teach you because it doesn't want to lose sales on dangerous products it carries. Food companies won't teach you this because they don't want to own up to the fact that their products are harming people. And your government will never teach you this because, of course, the very government bodies that regulate the food industry (the FDA and USDA) are actually promoters of the industry, not regulators. Their actions have proven they would much rather see industry earn higher profits than protect the health of you and your family.

No one will ever teach you this, and yet it's some of the most important information you will ever learn. It's the kind of information that can protect you and your family members from chronic disease, as well as the pain and suffering that goes along with those diseases.

In this book, I teach you the hidden dangers of this ingredient, how to avoid it, and how to drastically improve your health at a cellular level, from the moment you start reading. You simply won't find this information anywhere else. It can only come from an independent, third-party investigative effort that has no financial ties to the food or grocery industries.

[bugbear]

Life ranger, can you substantiate your claim scientifically? I don't meant to doubt your finding from the net but it must be backed by hard evidence or else why would the FDA allows such dangerous ingredient to go on?

[orchipalar]

Err...huh?...first the condensed milk is lousy...n now the margarine is no good?

Ahem...Orchi grew up drinking susu cap junjong...n eating Planta margarine spread n sprinkled with sugar on white rye...n Orchi is besar dan kuat!

[penangkia]

Well, any nutritionist or food tecnnologist or relevent expert to comment on these " revelations" ??

Sounds like a war between corn oil and palm oil in the US some years ago.

[VeeJay]

Err...huh?...first the condensed milk is lousy...n now the margarine is no good?

Ahem...Orchi grew up drinking susu cap junjong...n eating Planta margarine spread n sprinkled with sugar on white rye...n Orchi is besar dan kuat!

I still eat em the same way (planta and sugar)!
:)

And I still take my bread with condensed milk spread on! ;)

[Life Ranger]

Life ranger, can you substantiate your claim scientifically? I don't meant to doubt your finding from the net but it must be backed by hard evidence or else why would the FDA allows such dangerous ingredient to go on?

Kindly refer to the following web links for more information.

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http://www.newstarget.com/010095.html
http://www.bantransfats.com/

Ever read the words Partially Hydrogenated or Fully Hydrogenated? Surely, the “Partially” sounds much better, but the truth is, both are terrible for you. Recently, there was a Trans Fat scare in America, causing tons of companies to banish the use of trans fats (because they were finally caught, of course). The problem is, Trans Fat comes from hydrogenating oils. So if a label says 0 trans fat, but contains hydrogenated oils, it actually does contain it, but they do not want consumers to know. Next time you see a box of food that says “No trans fat!” Go ahead and find out if they are being serious. To do this, see that the Nutrition Facts says 0 Trans Fat, but the ingredients list says: “...hydrogenated (something) oil *...” A further search on the box reveals that at the bottom, in small print, it says something similar to “* Adds a small amount of trans fat.” So what’s up with that?

Well lets take a look at something else that I found to be very interesting. Okay so we know that pigs are among the closest animals to human beings according to DNA. So what happens when you feed pigs hydrogenated oils/trans fat? They die. They are actually killed by them. Outrageous, that pigs die from them yet millions of people eat them everyday!

What is it?
Hydrogenated oils are oils that has been changed molecularly so that the body cannot understand how to digest it properly, resulting in the body storing it in the blood until it can figure out how to digest it, when the truth is, it will never know what to do with it. So it basically just causes build up in the arteries and veins, and just sits there floating around.


So what are its proven effects?
When the food industry first secretly started using hydrogenated oils back in the 1940’s , all of a sudden this new insulin problem became introduced. What could it be? The doctors thought it was diabetes, but it was not exactly the same. So, the doctors had to come up with a new name for it; they called it diabetes type II. Hydrogenated oils have also been linked to heart disease. So watch out, they are more deadly than they sound.

Why do companies use it?
It helps to preserve the food (longer shelf life, therefore the foods can be sold before they spoil; basically less is thrown out, because otherwise they would lose money) and it also is cheaper to use hydrogenated oils than anything else, so the more hydrogenated oils are in it, the less they have to spend in order to produce it (more profit).

What is it in?
Many breads, cakes, cupcakes, snacks, chips; basically if it is targeted towards kids and teenagers, they are present, because this age group is uninformed to what they really do! I even found cough drops that have it!! It is safe to say that no matter what, food manufacturers can always find a way to add in these oils, guaranteed.

[Life Ranger]

I still eat em the same way (planta and sugar)!
:)

And I still take my bread with condensed milk spread on! ;)


Err...huh?...first the condensed milk is lousy...n now the margarine is no good?

Ahem...Orchi grew up drinking susu cap junjong...n eating Planta margarine spread n sprinkled with sugar on white rye...n Orchi is besar dan kuat!


hi VeeJay & orchipalar,

If you don't mind... how healthy are you ? no chronic diseases like high blood pressure/cholesterol what so ever ? How about eyesight ? Just for personal info...appreciate for your feedback.

[orchipalar]

hi VeeJay & orchipalar,

If you don't mind... how healthy are you ? no chronic diseases like high blood pressure/cholesterol what so ever ? How about eyesight ? Just for personal info...appreciate for your feedback.Err...thanks Ranger:)...on the contrary...for your infos only...one each of Orchi's lungs n kidneys have been taken out...the left leg has been amputated...Orchi might be going blind by the age of 90...BP n cholesterol levels are shooting up the roof...too much glucose in the blood...ahem...n Orchi can't get it up in the morning from the doctors' prescription has not yield much improvement... :D

[VeeJay]

hi VeeJay & orchipalar,

If you don't mind... how healthy are you ? no chronic diseases like high blood pressure/cholesterol what so ever ? How about eyesight ? Just for personal info...appreciate for your feedback.
Very healthy! :p
Body height: 5`8.5"
Body mass: 70kg
Body Fat: 16%

No health complication except when I dont take coffee! :)
Do my medical checkup every 6 months together with dental

Anything else you wanna know..buddy

pun intended! :) :) :D

[isarahim]

Liferanger,

You sound like an MLM pusher fresh from a brainwash retreat.

While a few sentences in your text appear correct there are quite a lot of errors, contradictions and non-sequitur.

Also, most of your quotes are from the US. I think you should not be dragged into the typical US health mass hysteria because they have very limited relevance here.

In the last posting, your key point is the emergence of Diabetes II. You are linking Diabetes II with trans-fat without further analysis. Well, there might indeed be a link, but how do you explain that Diabetes II is still increasing while the use of hydrogenated trans-fat is decreasing? The link cannot be as simple as you allege.

[isarahim]

And now it's time for a dose of cinnamon...

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/1/6/nation/13005583&sec=nation

[VeeJay]

For your reading...
http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/fully_hydro.htm?terms=hydrogenated+oils


hey...everything taken excessively is bad for health...don’t we take MSG in our daily intake (especially msian commercial food, hawkers, mamak stall, etc), we are still alive aren’t we? :rolleyes:

[orchipalar]

Err...mama told Orchi this long time ago...no need science to prove it...excessive intake of durian...mango...rambutan...n even watermelons is heaty...

n too much Vitamin C would deplete the calcium in the body...even too much of Dong Sum or Dong Kwai...or any other chinese herbal medicines...could lead to body being heaty...n bloody nose...

[Life Ranger]

Liferanger,

You sound like an MLM pusher fresh from a brainwash retreat.

While a few sentences in your text appear correct there are quite a lot of errors, contradictions and non-sequitur.

Also, most of your quotes are from the US. I think you should not be dragged into the typical US health mass hysteria because they have very limited relevance here.

In the last posting, your key point is the emergence of Diabetes II. You are linking Diabetes II with trans-fat without further analysis. Well, there might indeed be a link, but how do you explain that Diabetes II is still increasing while the use of hydrogenated trans-fat is decreasing? The link cannot be as simple as you allege.

I am just here to share with all of you the info which may interest you and be beneficial to you. And if all this coincidentally make you be more alert about food and health, my intention is accomplished.

I am an amateur in nutrition. It is indeed beyond my capability to do in-depth analysis beside searching the web for counter verification before forwarding the message whenever I receive one.

Malaysia is already quite similar in the culture of food & drink with US. When people shop in Giant & Tesco, it is very much like walking in a US supermaket.
When we watch the hollywood movies in TGV, we eat popcorns & coke.

Even a superpower US with perfect social system and knowledge could fall into the health mass hysteria, should we not have some awareness right now since the globalization has been importing the similarity homewards acceleratingly ? I have forgotten the figure our Health Ministry uttered the last time but the number of the patients suffering from all the modern diseases are increasing towards the roof.

And may I know where to find the data that indicating the use of hydrogenated oil is decreasing ?

[isarahim]

It is indeed beyond my capability to do in-depth analysis beside searching the web for counter verification before forwarding the message whenever I receive one.

Yeah, but I wouldn't post anything which I do not believe is correct. For instance, even the most cursory check would reveal that margarine is naturally white, not black.

Second, you would do the readers a better favour if you put things in balance and not this one-sided crusade against one or the other specific ingredient.


Malaysia is already quite similar in the culture of food & drink with US. When people shop in Giant & Tesco, it is very much like walking in a US supermaket.
Only on the surface. Besides, I would say our supermarkets are more European and Australian than they are US influenced. But that's besides the point.

We have our own set of problems which we should address locally. One small example, our heavy import taxation on cheese has lead to our supermarket only offering processed artificial cheddar cheese at affordable prices, while real natural cheese is out of reach for most people if available at all. KRAFT is one of the most important producers of hydrogenated fats. That's another locally created health problem which they don't have in US or Europe.


When we watch the hollywood movies in TGV, we eat popcorns & coke.
Do we? If I recall correctly, the popcorn sold here is fried in palm oil and with sugar in excess. In the US as well as in Europe, popcorn is cooked in corn oil and is salty, not sugary. Quite a difference.

I agree that the modern excess consumption of Coke, Root Beer etc is extremely unhealthy, but not so much for the trans fats but for the sugar content. And as I said, the syrup which in particular Malays tend to serve in our kenduris and other functions is just as unhealthy. (I often joke with my elders saying that we would give our guests better health if we served them plain vodka...)

The Malaysian health threat is mainly excess of sugar, which is quite different from the US.


Even a superpower US with perfect social system and knowledge could fall into the health mass hysteria, should we not have some awareness right now since the globalization has been importing the similarity homewards acceleratingly ?
The commercially driven hysteria in the US is nothing which we should ape after. Awareness is fine, but it should be on balance. Not in any way do we gain from importing hysteria.

Moderation is the key.


I have forgotten the figure our Health Ministry uttered the last time but the number of the patients suffering from all the modern diseases are increasing towards the roof.
I agree. But the reasons are not a sudden massive intake of trans-fats.


And may I know where to find the data that indicating the use of hydrogenated oil is decreasing ?
Well, just compare a stick of margarine sold today with a stick of margarine sold in the 70s and 80s. You will find a radical reduction in transfats and a much higher proportion of natural fats. You will also find that popular margarine spreads have a very high butter content.

[kwchang]

...just compare a stick of margarine sold today with a stick of margarine sold in the 70s and 80s.....
Can't let this pass ;) .... Isa, how do we make the comparison? Does anyone have a margarine packaging from the 70's or 80's stashed away? Or are you guilty of having unfinished food in the hidden corners of your fridge? :)

[saml]

I think what he is trying to say is that the makeup of the product has changed over the years. I tend to agree with that as tastes change and similarly because of changing regulations and expectations e.g. products are now advertised as low in polu unsaturates or something like that. The only thing that remains the same is the brand. Of course there are exceptions like coke where there was an attempt to change the taste. New coke was a failure and eventually withdrawn from the market. If they had just quietly changed it then it would have worked perhaps.

[isarahim]

Can't let this pass ;) .... Isa, how do we make the comparison? Does anyone have a margarine packaging from the 70's or 80's stashed away? Or are you guilty of having unfinished food in the hidden corners of your fridge? :)

Hmmm, yeah, lemme have a look, in the UK during WW II the trade links with Australia and the empire were cut off, and they couldn't get butter, so they had this special 'war margerine' with very high trans fat content...perhaps I have stick somewhere...

Anyway, here's a margerine brief, though not authorative of course since it's wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margerine

[orchipalar]

Err...another concern that malaysian consumers have to consider between butter or margarine...would be a religious one...

Many Hindus n Buddhists do not take butter... :)

[kwchang]

What-lah, all these orang putih stuff. What happened to kaya ? Hey, anyone have an idea with regards the saturated fat or cholesterol content of eggs - the main ingredient of kaya?

[Pak Kadok]

What-lah, all these orang putih stuff. What happened to kaya ? Hey, anyone have an idea with regards the saturated fat or cholesterol content of eggs - the main ingredient of kaya?

The egg yolk has a very high level of cholesterol, so, take kaya in moderation if you are those with high cholesterol level in your blood...

[KelvC]

Hmmm... I would prefer the green colored kaya compared to brown kaya, must be the pandan flavor :D

[AllUrban]

We have our own set of problems which we should address locally. One small example, our heavy import taxation on cheese has lead to our supermarket only offering processed artificial cheddar cheese at affordable prices, while real natural cheese is out of reach for most people if available at all. KRAFT is one of the most important producers of hydrogenated fats. That's another locally created health problem which they don't have in US or Europe.


Yes, that is also one issue that I have. Cheese is overpriced, and it is impossible to find a good, healthy, proper non-processed cheese.

[/QUOTE]

I agree that the modern excess consumption of Coke, Root Beer etc is extremely unhealthy, but not so much for the trans fats but for the sugar content. And as I said, the syrup which in particular Malays tend to serve in our kenduris and other functions is just as unhealthy. (I often joke with my elders saying that we would give our guests better health if we served them plain vodka...)

The Malaysian health threat is mainly excess of sugar, which is quite different from the US.
[/QUOTE]

The US has the exact same problem, with the excess of sugar. The culprit is the High Fructose Corn Syrup that is added to almost every processed food that is sold in the US. That is why North Am people are getting so oversized, because of high sugar content and low exercise levels and more processed food, less natural foods.

Malaysians should stick to natural food, exercise, and less sugar...dont worry so much about fat, just eat in moderation.

Cheers, m.

[Rocky19]

Malaysia is already quite similar in the culture of food & drink with US. When people shop in Giant & Tesco, it is very much like walking in a US supermaket.
When we watch the hollywood movies in TGV, we eat popcorns & coke.

what kind of statement is this. Yes the supermarkets(USA fish got no head cos they don't like it. Just one example here) may be the same.What do they buy and waht do we buy?What happens at home is totally different as well. How do we cook and how do they cook. what do they buy and eat and what do we buy and eat.Lots of frozen food in Msia?? There is more than looks of supermarket. How many Malaysians buy food in supermarket. Get your facts before you make assumptions. of course your facts are coming from USA based websites etc.BTW USA consume more coke etc than Malaysia. Check it out man. do some work.

TGV and popcorns. USA cinemas sell corn in cupkah? Occasional popcorn in TGV means we are similar with USA.Have you seen the size of the popcorn in a USA cinema? here Msians smuggle mineral water, asam, fruits into the cinema. Are you aware of that or you making an assumption that all Msian eat popcorn and coke at TGV?

I guess some ppl just having a thread frenzy. :rolleyes: and our banana is different from the USAlah. ;)

[Life Ranger]

It is a fact that Life Ranger is blatantly spamming here even after being indicated to post it on the right health sub-forum. The intention may be noble but overdoing it is somewhat becoming nauseating.....to the extent of just shutting off on whatever he posted.
I obey the decision of the Administrator and only since he is the authority here. And I would like to ask the Administrator to move all my other postings in this forum to the health forum for regularization sake.

There have been some blatant feedbacks which were leading astray from the intention of my start threads. You can voice your opinion or choose to ignore it. But I think it is kind of rude urging to prohibit others from posting here for the good of the rest of the readers.

:) Live wisely, death is inevitable or sooner.