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What Is Margarine Made From and Is It Healthy?

Margarine was initially introduced under the rule of Napoleon III of France as a “poor man’s” butter. Napoleon wanted his scientists to come up with a substitute for butter which could be made available to the lower classes, who could not afford butter. The initial process involved the use of animal fats, but nowadays Margarine is made from vegetable oils like Corn, Cotton Seed, Soybeans, Safflower and Canola. The use of Coconut oil and Palm oil, for making margarine, is also quite popular nowadays. Let’s explore some facts like what is margarine made from and is it really a healthy butter substitute?

Margarine is Made by the Hydrogenation of Vegetable Oils

Vegetable oils are liquid at room temperature because they are chiefly made up of unsaturated fatty acid chains. When you pass hydrogen through vegetable oil, using a catalyst like Nickel, the unsaturated fatty acid chains convert into saturated fats and the resultant product is semi-solid at room temperature – and that’s how margarine is made.

If you completely hydrogenate a vegetable oil, it turns fully solid and is composed of 90-98% saturated fats. Such a solid fat is not convenient to use for consumption and the presence of saturated fats is not healthy for the human body, so a process called “partial hydrogenation” is used so that only limited molecules get hydrogenated, enough for the resultant product to be semi-solid. Margarine is thus also known as hydrogenated fat.

Is Eating Margarine Healthy?

There have been several contentions that Margarine is not a healthy food for human consumption because of the presence of saturated fats and trans-fats in most traditionally made Margarines. While margarine is being made, trans-fats get produced during the process of hydrogenation, and it’s difficult to remove it completely from the end product. So the Margarine you eat is bound to contain some trans-fats.

Trans-fats are harmful to your body because they generate oxidation, or free radicals, which can create inflammation of the cells. Trans-fats have been known to cause cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Traditional Margarines also contain a high amounts of saturated fats because of what they are made from. The consumption of bad fats can increase your LDL (bad cholesterol) levels which in turn can lead to fat deposition on the arteries, which causes clogging, hardening and narrowing of these arteries or blood vessels. Clogged arteries can lead to problems like heart attack, stroke and increase blood pressure.

Nowadays, one can procure “blended” Margarines which are low in saturated fats and contain healthy unsaturated fats. These are better substitutes to “traditional” margarines. But all in all, the consumption of Margarine is not very healthy because of the “unnatural” process of hydrogenation, the use of nickel (which can leave some toxic residues) and the presence of trans-fats.

Margarines also contain a high percentage of Omega-6 fatty acids in comparison to Omega-3 fatty acids (in a ratio of 100:1 or so). The body does need Omega-6 fatty acids along Omega-3, but such a high proportion of Omega-6 can lead to unbalance in the body and can lead to increased LDL levels (bad cholesterol levels).

Is Margarine Better than Butter?

There are contentions that Margarine is better than butter because it contains lesser saturated fats concentration. But in truth, one can argue that butter is a more natural product than margarine and thus does not contain any chemical residues or trans-fats. Butter is high in saturated fats, and is definitely not a very healthy food product, but it looks like a better option compared to Margarine because the process using which it is made is more natural (no chemicals used) and it does not contain trans-fats.

One can also obtain “dairy” Margarine nowadays, which is healthier than traditional Margarines because of the presence of more milk based nutrients. You can also procure blended Margarines which have a mix of butter and other milk products, making it healthier than a traditional Margarine.

In Conclusion

So now we know what margarine is made from and that it can be bad for your health because of the presence of trans-fat. The consumption of Margarine increased tremendously around the 20^th century, in the United States, and it was seen that cases of cancer and cardiovascular diseases also hiked around the same time. One cannot really pin it down to the use of Margarine, but it has come under sharp scrutiny. If you must use Margarines, go in for the healthy variety like the Blended or Diary Margarine, and make sure that there are low levels of “Trans-fats”.