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Which is Healthier—Margarine or Butter?

http://blog.drdavidwilliams.com/blog/digestive-health-guidance/which-is-healthiermargarine-or-butter

For years, I’ve recommended margarine over butter because margarine contains trans-fatty acids. Now, many margarine producers have changed their production techniques—so many of you have asked if I’ve changed my thoughts on margarine vs. butter. My answer is that I wouldn’t make that change right now.

Most margarine producers have changed from hydrogenation to what’s called interesterification. This technique uses high temperatures and pressure and enzymes to transform the vegetable oils into a solid. What are the long-term effects of eating this stuff? I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone else has a clue either at this point. I would bet that, just like what happened with margarine, we’ll discover years down the road that it is detrimental to our health.

Some of the short-term effects are known, however, and it’s not a pretty picture. As I reported back in 2007, a study done in Malaysia showed that consuming interesterified fats impaired glucose metabolism and had a negative effect on the beneficial HDL cholesterol. I can’t imagine that the long-term effects will be any less unpleasant.

We eat fats so our body can use them as building blocks to make cell walls, nerve tissue, organs, hormones, et cetera. If you supply it with chemically altered fats, which have never been part of the natural food supply, it has no choice but to use those. Can anyone really believe that doing this will turn out well in the end? So, for now I’m sticking with butter.

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