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Butter or margarine?

(74 Posts)
lyndsey66 Wed 03-Mar-04 20:45:11

Is it best to give 19 month old ds butter?
We have margarine - but as butter is more fatty is he best off with that? thanks

OP’s posts: |
spacemonkey Wed 03-Mar-04 20:45:56

I would give butter. Margarine is full of horrible chemicals, I hate the stuff and wouldn't give it to anyone of any age!

mothernature Wed 03-Mar-04 20:52:49

Butter v. Margarine

Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams for margarine.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.


Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added.


Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less then 100 years.

Now for Margarine...
Very high in Trans Fatty Acids.

Triple risk of Coronary Heart Disease.

Increases total and LDL cholesterol (this is the bad cholesterol). Lowers HDL cholesterol and this is the good one.

Increases the risk of cancers by up to five fold.

Lowers quality of breast milk.

Decreases immune response.
Decreases insulin response.

And here is the most disturbing fact....

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE from being PLASTIC... ( this fact alone was 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 food )

YOU can try this yourself, purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or a 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 a find a home to grow...

Why? because it is nearly plastic.

Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast? My father in law went to fit security camera's at a place they make margarine...any split or broken tubs are dropped back in to the melt down process via forklift truck and sweeping brush..... enough said..

lyndsey66 Wed 03-Mar-04 20:59:16

OH MY GOD!! I never knew all that - I cant believe it! I always thought that margarine is better for you. Butter tastes so much nicer - I just thought it was bad.
mothernature - you really know your stuff!! and spacemonkey I agree with what you said now!

OP’s posts: |
hercules Wed 03-Mar-04 21:14:50

No more spread now!!!
Only butter, does taste much better too.

tigermoth Thu 04-Mar-04 09:33:35

wow, butter it is then!

kiwisbird Thu 04-Mar-04 09:47:25

simple read ingredients
fresh 100% natural product or chemical soup.
Oh and the taste I cannot stand margarine, I adore butter

kiwisbird Thu 04-Mar-04 09:48:11

and cockroaches won't eat it

Northerner Thu 04-Mar-04 09:53:29

Oh my God, I didn't know this. Do the same go for spreads like Olivio and Flora then aswell?

aloha Thu 04-Mar-04 10:27:15

Nutritionists advise butter rather than marge and olive or sunflower oil (or similar) for dressings and stirfries etc. I like unsalted butter, esp for ds. And sweet french butter with croissants....yum!

oliveoil Thu 04-Mar-04 10:31:25

I use Olivio for sandwiches and have butter for toast.

They have some shite diet spread at work and it makes the toast go all weird, yuk


celandine Thu 04-Mar-04 10:32:21

I avoid margarine, or anything with transfatty acids or hydrogenated fats. There are several brands of 'margarine' that don't have either of these in. Go for organic spreads and you'll be fine (as far as I know - please put me right if I'm wrong!)

As well as butter, we use Pure organic dairysfree spread and all love it. It's easier to spread than butter and tastes ok (dh actually loves it!!)

oliveoil Thu 04-Mar-04 10:33:34

oops posted too soon, my bracket got waylaid.

Was going to say: (more praise for olive oil please )

M2T Thu 04-Mar-04 10:37:19

Eh Mothernature..... hmmm.... the margarine I buy has about half the calories of real butter!!! What Margarine are you talking about??? Surely not Flora, Olivio etc!

I buy it as it's lower in saturated fat and calories and if I didn't I'd be the size of a house right now. Never really though about it as being bad for you. I thought polyunsaturated fats were GOOD for you!!

Do we really need something else to be neurotic about?

M2T Thu 04-Mar-04 10:41:58

As for the one molecule from plastic part.... any chemistry graduates out there?? It's a Hyrdrocarbon and there are hundred of things out there that are hydrocarbons.... butane being one of them. I'm sure there are many other foods that you could one molecule off being some inedible and shocking. It doesn't really bear any relevance does it? Afterall, we're a couple of chromosomes away from the mountain gorilla!

Where did you get all this info from? I'd like to read a bit more about this.

aloha Thu 04-Mar-04 11:22:23

All margarines and Flora etc have the same amount of fat and calories as butter. Low fat spreads have lower fat and calories due to the addition of water - you can also buy lower fat butter - eg Lurpak. Many margarines have hydrogenated vegetable oils - so do processed foods - and they are bad for you.

M2T Thu 04-Mar-04 11:29:52

Just phoned DH.... we have utterly butterly in the fridge at the mo...

per 100g:

570 kcal
14.6g Sat Fat
27.5g Mono
9.5g Poly

I thought butter was normally between 650-700kcal per 100g? And way more saturated fat???

Come on folks.... get your fridges open and lets compare.

Twinkie Thu 04-Mar-04 11:34:12

We use the bertoli olive spread stuff for sandwiches and butter (unsalted) for toast and cooking.

The word Marg makes me laugh - it was my grandmas name and we used to say it over and over again in hysterics!! (God what small pleasures used to thrillme now its sex or retail therapy!! )

Northerner Thu 04-Mar-04 11:35:05

Found this on the Food Standards website:

How does margarine compare to butter?

Generally, margarine tends to have the same fat content as butter, about 81 g fat per 100 g. The difference between butter and margarine is the type of fat they contain.
Margarine tends to contain unsaturated fat, which is generally better for us than the saturated fat found in butter. Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature, while unsaturated ones are mainly liquid.

By law, margarine can't be labelled 'low fat'. Many of the products sold alongside butter and margarine are low-fat spreads. These can contain up to half the fat of butter or margarine.

Both margarine and low-fat spreads are usually fortified with vitamin D, which, among other things, is important for healthy bones.

Whether you choose to eat butter, margarine or low-fat spread depends on your taste and personal preference. But bear in mind that we should get no more than 35% of our total daily energy (calories) from fat, and no more than 11% from saturated fat. This means we should eat high-fat foods sparingly.

So, it's OK to eat a small amount of butter as part of a healthy balanced diet, but you might find that using low-fat spreads will help you reduce the amount of fat in your diet, and contribute to an overall healthy diet.

M2T Thu 04-Mar-04 11:36:09

lol Twinkie.... go read the calories/fat per 100g it'll distract you from waiting for DP's reply!

When you are all talking about margarine do you mean like Stork? Or are we talking all of the spreads on the market that aren't butter?

M2T Thu 04-Mar-04 11:38:50

Thanks Northerner. That's better.

So Utterly Butterly is actually quite low in fat then? It has 51g per 100g of all types of fat. That's quite good, I shouted at DH when he bought it coz I normally get Flora Light!

SoupDragon Thu 04-Mar-04 12:44:44

Buter = gorgeous
Margarine = yuck

What more do you need to know??

Hot buttered toast... crumpets... yum!

SoupDragon Thu 04-Mar-04 12:47:22

Oh, I did read once that, generally speaking, what you spread on your bread/toast etc forms such a small part of your overall diet that what you use makes little difference. If you want to cut down on fat, you should look elsewhere in your diet for maximum impact.

oliveoil Thu 04-Mar-04 12:51:56

Stork! Memories of making fairy cakes with mum, awwwwwwwwwww.

Way way back when, my then boyfriends mum 'helped' me out by restocking my fridge when on holiday. I came back to a pack of LARD and the comments 'well how will you do his bacon?'.

Does lard still exist? That must be one step away from being plastic.

SoupDragon Thu 04-Mar-04 12:53:00

Oh no - lard is pure animal fat isn't it?

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