# Margarine vs. butter
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-vs-butter/301717
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 29, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-vs-butter/301717 "2005-04-29T15:21:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-vs-butter/301717/1 "2005-04-29T15:21:04Z")
Hello all,
I’m not looking for an IMHO-style comparison of butter and margarine or a CS-style bunch of recipes and ideas for them. A friend just forwarded me this e-mail (sans cites, of course), and I was wondering how accurate it was. I try to eat healthy, and from my minimal research I concluded that I’m probably better off eating butter than margarine, but I didn’t know a lot of this stuff was true. Is it?
> [@](#):
>
> DO YOU KNOW… the difference between margarine and butter?
>
> Read on to the end…it gets very interesting:
>
> 1. Both have the same amount of calories.
> 2. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.
> 3. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
> 4. Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
> 5. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!
> 6. Butter tastes much better than margarine and it enhances the flavors of other foods.
> 7. Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for
> less than 100 years.
>
> And now for Margarine:
>
> 1. Very high in trans fatty acids… Triple risk of coronary heart disease.
> 2. Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol)
> 3. Lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)…
> 4. Increases the risk of cancers by up to five fold…
> 5. Lowers quality of breast milk…
> 6. Decreases immune response…
> 7. Decreases insulin response.
>
> AND, HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING! (the most disturbing facts…):
>
> WHICH DO YOU CHOOSE?
>
> 1. Margarine is but only ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC.
> 2. And, margarine is initially BLACK, but it is DYED YELLOW to look like butter.
>
> These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).
>
> You can try this yourself: purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things: no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something) … it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value, nothing will grow on it…even those teeny weenie microorganisms will not find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast? Yuk!
>
> Share This With Your Friends…(Butter them up!)
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-vs-butter/301717/2 "2005-04-29T15:47:22Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#):
>
> Hello all,
>
> I’m not looking for an IMHO-style comparison of butter and margarine or a CS-style bunch of recipes and ideas for them. A friend just forwarded me this e-mail (sans cites, of course), and I was wondering how accurate it was. I try to eat healthy, and from my minimal research I concluded that I’m probably better off eating butter than margarine, but I didn’t know a lot of this stuff was true. Is it?
[Asked and answered](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=312645&highlight=Margarine+butter)