Contents:
- Medical Video: Should I Buy Butter or Margarine? - Heart Smart® Grocery Store Tour
- What is the difference between margarine and butter?
- Fat and cholesterol content in butter and margarine
- Nutrient content of butter
- Nutrient content of margarine
- So, which is better: butter or margarine?
Medical Video: Should I Buy Butter or Margarine? - Heart Smart® Grocery Store Tour
In general, Indonesian society is still difficult to distinguish between margarine and butter. If you are one who is still confused, determine which one is better to consume between butter and margarine, see the following explanation.
What is the difference between margarine and butter?
Butter is a dairy product that is made by separating solid components from liquid components. Generally, butter is used for cooking or making bread. Judging from the texture, the butter is soft and melts easily if it's not stored in the refrigerator. In terms of taste, butter is more savory and delicious than margarine.
Whereas margarine is developed as a substitute for butter, made from vegetable oils such as canola oil, palm oil, and soybean oil. In the process of making margarine, salt and other ingredients such as maltodextrin, soy lecithin and mono or diglyceride are added so that the texture is denser and not melting from butter quickly. Margarine is commonly used to make wet cakes, even if it's not often used to fry or saute food.
Fat and cholesterol content in butter and margarine
- Trans fat: Trans fat increases bad cholesterol significantly, while lowering good cholesterol levels. Trans fat can harden at room temperature. Therefore, the harder the texture of a margarine, the higher the trans fat content.
- Saturated fat: saturated fat can also raise bad cholesterol levels, but not as much as trans fat. Butter contains large amounts of saturated fat, but it contains little trans fat.
- Cholesterol: Cholesterol is only found in animal products, coconut and oil palm. Most margarine contains little or no cholesterol. Whereas butter contains a lot of cholesterol.
Nutrient content of butter
One tablespoon of butter contains 100 calories, 12 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 31 mg of cholesterol, 0 grams of carbohydrates, and 0 grams of sugar. Butter is made from pasteurized (heated) milk cream. Sometimes, there are also producers who add salt to it.
If the producers of butter take milk from cows that are fed quality grass or eat directly from fresh grass, then the butter produced will have good quality as well. Because the milk products from cows like this contain vitamin K2 and high omega-3 fatty acids. Both of these nutrients are important for heart health.
Not only butter, this applies to all other products derived from cattle such as meat, cheese or milk. This kind of cow's milk products contain vitamin K2 and high omega-3 fatty acids.
Nutrient content of margarine
One tablespoon of ordinary margarine sold on the market, containing around 80-100 calories, 9-11 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 1.5-2.5 grams of trans fat, zero grams of carbohydrates, zero grams of cholesterol, and zero gram of sugar. This means that on average margarine contains fewer calories than butter. But unfortunately, margarine contains trans fat.
While fat-free margarine contains more percentage of water than ordinary margarine, which makes the calorie and fat content lower. In general, this type of margarine contains 40 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1 - 1.5 grams of saturated fat, zero grams of trans fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, and sugar per tablespoon. This means that liquid margarine contains far less saturated fat and trans fat
So, which is better: butter or margarine?
When viewed from the basic ingredients, margarine does tend to be safer for health. Because margarine does not contain animal fat, cholesterol and fat contained in margarine are not as much as butter.
The thing to consider when buying processed food products is to make sure you don't just pay attention to the nutritional label, but also read carefully the other ingredients label. If in the margarine label there is a partially hydrogenated oil content, that means the product contains trans fat even though on the nutrition label it is written zero trans fat.
But the decision to choose to consume margarine and butter depends on each individual and the special dietary requirements that are being undertaken.
