What is better for you butter or margarine?

Answer 1

Real butter in moderation is better for you than margarine which is not natural and may have many preservatives.

It all depends on which person is asking. Different people like different products. Hard to give an accurate response. Also depends on if the person has any cholesterol issues.

Answer 2

It depends. Neither is healthy and should be used sparingly.

Margarine contains more "good" fats (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated) than butter. It also contains no cholesterol because it is made from vegetable oil. However, solid margarines (sticks opposed to tubs) can contain trans fats, the worst fat of all.

Butter contains more saturated fat than margarine.

Be sure to check nutritional labels when deciding between butter and margarine. Both should be eaten sparingly for a healthy diet. You can also find healthier butters that have olive or canola oil.

Answer 3

There is huge debate on this: for a long time people thought butter was bad and margarine was better because it's made from vegetable fat. Since then they have learned that the hydrogenation process used to make vegetable oil into margarine is probably quite bad for you. There have been a number of studies showing that eating margarine is much worse for your heart than butter. There are also studies, though, that have failed to get this same result. Many proponents of natural food note that margarine is vegetable oil that is chemically modified, and your body doesn't have natural enzymes to deal with it, while butter is a natural product and has some nutrients as well. The debate is still rading. They do know that margarine raises cholesteral. This confuses a lot of people because they know butter has cholesteral in it, and margarine does not, and they reason that eating cholesteral must make your cholesteral higher. But consider that beef has quite a bit of cholesteral and all cows eat is grass and grains! Cholesteral in your blood doesn't really come from eating it, but from foods that make your body manufacture too much of it. Margarine has been found to cause this problem. There are new margarines that use less hydrogenation and are purported to be less bad for you, so do some research to decide what you want to put in your body.

Answer 4

Alternative Names

Butter vs. margarine

Information

Is margarine healthier than butter? Neither is ideal, because butter is loaded with saturated fat, and almost all margarines have some saturated fat and trans fatty acids. However, if you must use one or the other, margarine may be better than butter.

Here are some guidelines:

• Use canola or olive oil instead of butter or margarine.
• Choose soft margarine (tub or liquid) over harder stick forms.
• Choose margarines with liquid vegetable oil as the first ingredient.
• Even better, choose "light" margarines that list water as the first ingredient, because these are even lower in saturated fat.
• If you have high cholesterol, talk to your doctor about using margarines made from plant sterols or stanols. These substances, made from soybean and pine tree oils, can help lower your LDL cholesterol by as much as 20%. The American Heart Association recommends further study for children, pregnant women, and those without high cholesterol.

Limit:

• Margarines, shortening, and cooking oils that have more than 2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon.
• "Hydrogenated" and "partially-hydrogenated" fats, because these are high in saturated fats and trans-fatty acids. Read ingredients on food labels.
• Coconut, palm, and palm kernel oils, because they are very high in saturated fat.
• Shortening or other fats made from animal sources.

References

Lichtenstein AH, et al. AHA Scientific Statement. Diet and lifestyle recommendations revision 2006. A scientific statement from the American Heart Association Nutrition Committee. Circulation. 2006;114:82-96.

Answer 5

Margarine.

Probably butter cause margarine is higher in sodium.