French Emperor Louis Napoleon III had offered a prize to anyone who could come up with a cheaper substitute for butter, looking for another option for his poorer subjects and to feed the Navy, according to a 2014 article in National Geographic looking at the history of margarine. writes in the Mayo Clinic article. From the standpoint of heart disease, butter remains on the list of foods to use sparingly mostly because it is high in saturated fat. True margarine is made primarily of fats that are derived from vegetable oils. So stick margarines usually have more trans fat than tub margarines do," Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D. go onto i.village.co.uk/Shine @ Yahoo for recipe trending for this. It is used in cooking and as a spread. ", Or, as Encyclopedia.com puts it, "Chemically speaking, yes, margarine is almost plastic because it has all of the same molecules as plastic, except for one. It’s also a handy food bowl, and you won’t have to wrap it up and bring it home for cleaning. Since everything is made of molecules, the molecular structure of certain things may look similar. And the claim that margarine is similar to plastic is missing the context that would make it meaningful. Omissions? The development of margarine and shortening products resulted from the invention of a successful method for converting low-melting unsaturated fatty acids and glycerides to higher-melting saturated products. It is used in cooking and as a spread. For the next claim of lowering good cholesterol (HDL) and raising bad cholesterols (LDL), as stated above, it's true that trans fats found in margarine can do that. "Is butter better than margarine. The French chemist H. Mège-Mouriès developed margarine in the late 1860s and was given recognition in Europe and a patent in the United States in 1873. Margarine is a spread used for flavoring, baking and cooking. And in 1997, a study was published in the New England Journal that found "replacing only 2 percent of trans-fat calories (the kind found in packaged pastries) with unsaturated fat would reduce one’s risk of heart disease by 53 percent.". During the late 1950s an increased interest in the relation of polyunsaturated fats and oils to health hastened the shift to corn, safflower, and sunflower oils as the fat ingredients of margarine. Margarine is a type of condiment that is commonly used for cooking and baking. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. We find this claim to be PARTY FALSE, based on our research. Debunking a similar claim, Utah State University took on this question, finding: "On a chemical level, both butter and margarine are made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Answer From Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D. Why? In reality, butter and margarine are much closer in chemical structure than plastic is to either of them. Many criteria are used, and they make the richness and relevance of this comparison. ", A 1993 study did link margarine to heart disease in women, however, the recipes for margarine and modern research advocated for eating less of both the saturated fats in butter and trans fats in margarine. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. However, a result of the hydrogenation process is a change in the shape of some unsaturated fatty acids from a configuration known as, Some margarines (polyunsaturated margarines) use a blend of oils selected to provide a moderately high linoleic acid content.…, Many shortenings and margarines contain hydrogenated (hardened) oils as their major ingredients. Margarines, though, aren't so easy to classify. The definition of "real margarine" is that it must contain at least 80 percent fat, making it equivalent to butter in that regard and making it possible to use margarine for baking almost any type of food. As it is made from vegetable oils, it contains unsaturated good fats such as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. You will see use by dates on food that goes off quickly, such as meat products or ready-to-eat salads. Baking with Margarine Recipes Baking with margarine produces moist cakes and chewy cookies. For consistent high quality results, remember to use margarine (80% fat), not a spread product. Margarine, food product made principally from one or more vegetable or animal fats or oils in which is dispersed an aqueous portion containing milk products, either solid or fluid, salt, and such other ingredients as flavouring agents, yellow food pigments, emulsifiers, preservatives, vitamins A and D, and butter. 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