Margarine Gets Nod Over Butter

Margarine and butter are. of course, primarily fats. Most margarines are manufactured mainly from partially hardened polyunsaturated tats, while butter consists mainly of saturated animal fat. derived from whole milk Monounsaturated fat. which has no effect on blood cholesterol level, is another tvpe of unsalurated tat While vegetable oils are, as a rule, high in polyunsaturated fats, the liquid oils usually become more saturated when they are hardened for use in margarine. Therefore, margarine can never be as unsaturated as the oils it's made from But because margarine is made from vegetable oils, it's less likely to increase blood cholesterol levels than butter, which is largely saturated fat What's more, certain margarines, such as those made from minimally hardened oils, may actually lower blood cholesterol levels Consumers Union s medical consultants advise using margarine instead of butter especially a margarine selected from the list included here However, it should be emphasized that if an in dividual is on a cholesterollowering. low-saturated-fat diet the entire diet is important and involves much more than simply a choice of margarine over butler. Margarine comes in a confusing variety of shapes, sizes and forms Consumers Union tested a total of 45 brands of five different types conventional sticks, soft, whipped, diet imitation, and liquid and reported the results in the January 1975 Consumer Reports Conventional, soft, and whipped margarines are at least 80 per cent vegetable-oil fat Whipped margarine contains less margarine and more air. so a tablespoon of whipped contains only 07 calories instead ol the 100 calories in conventional and soft margarines Diet

margarine has hall as much tat and half as many calories (50 calories per tablespoon i as conventional and soft products. Butter has about the same amount of calories as conventional and soft margarines Some margarines generally those made from corn, sunflower, or safflower oils that have been minimally hardened contain more of the kinds of polyunsaturated fat that may help reduce the blood cholesterol level than do other margarines. In Consumers Union's tests, the margarines with the highest percentage of cholesterollowering polyunsaturated fats were Promise Soft, Promise. Food Club Soft, Squeeze Parkay Liquid. Soft Whipped Blue Bonnet. Parkay Soft, Whipped Parkay. Whipped Miracle Corn Oil, and Mazola Unfortunately, having a high percentage of cholesterol-lowering polyunsaturated fats may affect a margarine's taste and smell Margarine’s strongest selling point had always been its lower price That, however, has been changing While the price of butter seemed to stabilize in 1974, margarine prices continued to rise.