We understand how these products differ and how they affect the body.
ButterThis is a natural product. To obtain butter, cream is whipped in oil machines: due to the high speed of rotation, they release concentrated milk fat.
According to DSTU, butter must contain at least 72.5% fat. Most of them are saturated, so many people consider this product harmful: it is assumed that such fats increase the level of "bad" cholesterol. And it clogs blood vessels and can cause a heart attack or atherosclerosis.
This is not true: very recently, an international group of cardiologists analyzed the data of 1.3 million people and found no connection between cholesterol and cardiovascular diseases. Fats can clog your arteries not because you ate fat, but because you have bad heredity or an unhealthy lifestyle. And cholesterol from cream, on the contrary, strengthens immunity and protects against infections.
Butter can be used for frying, although it is not very convenient: at a temperature above 150 °C, it starts to burn.
The word "margarine" has practically become synonymous with the word "poison", and it is not without reason.
Until 2018, according to the law, this product could contain up to 20% industrial trans fatty acids - these substances cause cancer.
There are few useful substances in margarine, but there is almost no milk fat in it: the product will fit perfectly into your menu if you have a tendency to atherosclerosis.
Just don't heat it above 180 °C: at this temperature, margarine starts releasing aldehydes that are dangerous for health.
SpreadReal butter doesn't come cheap, so marketers created a spread. It contains milk fat - from 15 to 85%, and all others - vegetable. There are several types of spread:
- creamy-vegetable (more than 50% milk fat);
- vegetable-cream (15-49% milk fat);
- vegetable fat (only vegetable fats).
The first two types of saturated fat are less than in butter, but more than in margarine. According to the new regulation, trans fatty acids in the spread are no more than 2%.
The texture of the spread is more like a paste than a solid product - so it is convenient to spread on sandwiches. It tastes like butter, but is cheaper and contains less saturated fat.
It is not necessary to heat it: 11% of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the composition of the spread will release carcinogens due to the high temperature.