Dr. Sarah Berry and Jonathan Wolff discuss the debate of butter versus margarine, highlighting how they affect our bodies in different ways.
They aim to clear up misconceptions and use research to get closer to an answer.
They discuss the history of margarine's development as a low-cost alternative to butter in 19th century France.
Hydrogenation is a process that turns liquid oil into a hard fat like margarine by changing the unsaturated fatty acids in the seed oil to a saturated fatty acid.
Butter is solidified by churning, where fat molecules clump together, resulting in a solid lump of butter and buttermilk.
Butter has more saturated fat, while margarine has more unsaturated fats, which is why butter has been perceived as potentially unhealthy.
Trans fats were removed from most foods in the UK and the US before 2007, and the fear of trans fats in margarine explains the dip in its popularity in the 1990s.
In the US, margarine is made through full hydrogenation and blending with liquid oil, while in the UK, manufacturers use a process called intra-sterification to create suitable melt profiles.
The main difference in the health properties of margarine in the US and the UK lies in the type of saturated fatty acids used, making it difficult to compare the health effects of US and UK spreads.
Margarine is considered an ultra-processed food due to the multiple processing steps, addition of chemicals, emulsifiers, colorants, and additives, making it impossible to make at home.
Dr. Sarah explains the impact of butter and margarine on health based on population studies and randomized control trials.
Consuming large amounts of butter can have a negative impact on health, while consuming it at normal levels is unlikely to have a significant long-term unfavorable effect.
Swapping from butter to unsaturated fat-rich spreads can reduce cholesterol, but the long-term impact of these spreads is still not fully understood.
Jonathan prefers using extra virgin olive oil for its health properties, and Dr. Sarah emphasizes the importance of functionality and texture in choosing fats for consumption.
Dr. Sarah and Tim are actively researching the impact of ultra-processed foods and the health effects of fats to provide the most recent evidence to people.