Buttered Toast by yamada taro

Butter or margarine, which is the better choice for lowering cholesterol? Well, it seems that many people are buying into the theory that butter is better because it is natural, or a whole-type of food. That may not be the case though.

Butter is 65% saturated fat with one tablespoon (and that is not a lot) containing 30 mg of cholesterol. Yikes. You may agree that butter is a whole-natural food, but you can’t ignore the cholesterol that is in it, and that won’t change.

So does that mean that vegetable margarines are better? Well corn margarine contains no cholesterol, so it must be better for your health, right? Even though corn margarine doesn’t have any cholesterol, it does contain trans fat, which we are told is bad for our health as well.

Which is the better choice, margarine made with vegetables or butter?

You may know by now that foods high in cholesterol could lead to heart disease and many other health problems. You also may know that trans fatty foods raise LDL-cholesterol, weaken the immune functions, reek havoc with the body’s natural anti-inflammatory hormones and who know what else. The list is long and it’s not good.

The hydrogen process used (heating) not only produces trans fatty acids, it also adds toxic metals to the foods in the forms of nickel and aluminum. Who needs that kind of trouble? Most people don’t.

Luckily, you can go to the dairy counter now and find all kinds of brands of margarine that don’t have any trans fatty acids in them. These would be better choices than full-blown butter as far as cholesterol levels are concerned. The American Heart Association recommends that we eat only non trans fatty margarines over butter and that is probably a wise recommendation.

You are always going to have the debate with the whole-food crowd that butter is a better choice. Remember, you can have butter, but the amount you can have in order to control your cholesterol levels in very small and may not be worth it.

If you are really confused about which is the right choice for you and your cholesterol levels, butter or margarine, just ask your doctor or go to the American Heart Association page and get more information.