Butter v Low Fat Spreads

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domduck
domduck Posts: 13
in Food and Nutrition
I was always under the impression that butter was bad due to the fat content so switched to low fat spreads as a replacement.

I prefer butter but the spreads do the job intended, but.... recently I have seen the argument that butter is a natural and has only one ingredient, IE butter, whereas spreads can contain up to 10 ingredients and are high in trans fats!

The body breaks down the butter fats better and when used sparingly can be better for you!

Thoughts please.

Replies

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    apparently the fat stored in our adipose tissues has a composition that is matched by a 50/50 mix of butter and olive oil. So the saturated fat in butter is not alien to the body which makes similar stuff out of excess carbohydrates anyway.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,017 Member
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    Your assumption is correct, especially organic butter if you can afford it, it has much more CLA and a better profile for Vit A and other vit like E,K and D. Organic butter has selenium a very strong antioxidant and iodine which is good for the thyroid. The saturated fats that are in butter are also great, butyric acid gets digested in the colon and is used as energy and is an anti carcinogen, lauric acid a well known antimicrobial and antifungal agent. While the vegetable fats in margarine's might have had some health benefits in the plant state are refined out during the deodorizing process......and most margarine's are top heavy in polyunsaturated fats which should have never seen sunlight, or heat rendering them oxidized, which also has been done during the refining process.........Margarine is most definitely a lab diet food working in harmony on the misguided ignorance that natural butter and it's saturated fat content will kill us.
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
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    My mantra is to ALWAYS use the real stuff. You may just have to use less of it to fit it into your calorie goals. The less of an ingredient list, the better.
  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    Definitely avoid any spreads with trans-fat like the plague. As far as others go, I used to be all about smart balance. But the long ingredients list has made me wonder. Now that we know saturated fat isn't the root of all evil, is it really worth eating worse tasting food that may or may not be healthier? We were told that margerine was healthier for a long time, only to find out that the trans-fat in margerine was much much worse than butter. So now I mainly stick to butter.
  • twinmom01
    twinmom01 Posts: 854 Member
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    I only use real butter now - I usually use the Kerrygold grassfed butter, since I don't use very much now a days a block of that lasts me quite a while.

    I also use the Land O Lakes tub butter.

    Over the holidays we were running low so I told my dad to pick me up some more of the Land O Lakes tub butter I stressed to buy the real stuff - he came home with the lite version...his excuse was he knew I was on a diet and thought this was better (I eat a Primal/Paleo way of eating...I tried to explain to my dad it isn't a "diet" but he doesn't get it) - I asked him to look on the back of the two packages...

    Regular - basically cream & salt
    Lite version - like 13 different ingrediants

    THAT really opened his eyes up....
  • Skyla08
    Skyla08 Posts: 32 Member
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    Very intersting topic to read! I have been using Becel for like ever as was under the impression that it was better for you. I don't use a lot of it but now i'm starting to think twice of using it at all. I will have to look into switching to the real deal. Thanks for the info.
  • bashiera
    bashiera Posts: 140 Member
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    I just use real butter, but less of it. Saturated fat is not the devil it was made out to be for years, again, mother nature isn't stupid. Why would she put the best sources of protein for early humans next to something that would kill them? Fat Head rant aside :P Yes, real butter all the way. Better taste, better product, better health.

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