My mother had a mild heart attack the week before Thanksgiving and was found to have an 85% blockage in one of her coronary arteries. She was put on a low-fat diet which contained margarine. Is margarine harmful or healthy?
What food do you think of as being full fat? For me, it is butter, rich creamy butter. Unfortunately, butter is a big no-no on a heart healthy diet.
So, when looking for a “heart healthy” alternative to butter, margarine is recommended – according to the doctors!
After all, who would want butter, full of fat and saturated fats at that! At the risk of being politically incorrect, saturated fats are good for you! But margarine …
According to the Free Dictionary:
A fatty solid butter substitute consisting of a blend of hydrogenated vegetable oils mixed with emulsifiers, vitamins, coloring matter, and other ingredients ,[French, from Greek margaron, pearl]
The History of Margarine
Margarine was created in 1870 by a Frenchman from Provence, France — Hippolyte Mège-Mouriez — in response to an offer by the Emperor Louis Napoleon III for the production of a satisfactory substitute for butter.
He used margaric acid, a fatty acid component isolated in 1813 by Michael Chevreul and named because of the lustrous pearly drops that reminded him of the Greek word for pearl, margarites – and – he claimed the Emperor’s prize.
Low-Fat Myth
Is margarine harmful – 6 Secrets About Margarine “They” Don’t Tell You:
1. Margarine is high in trans fatty acids.
The disadvantage of true margarine is the trans fat level.
A study done in Boston, at the Harvard School of Public Health showed that trans-fatty acids do increase the risk of heart attack.
In fact, the risk of heart attack more than doubled between those who ate the most and those who ate the least foods containing vegetable oil trans-fatty acids.
The more solid a margarine is at room temperature, the more trans fat it contains, as much as 3 grams per tablespoon.
Even the improved brands, such as Smart Balance, are full of artificial ingredients, synthetic vitamins which do nothing to boost your immune system (as those found in real butter do) and artificial colors because without them the products don’t appeal to customers.
2. Margarine actually contributes to heart attacks.
Another study done by the Harvard School of Public Health asked people how much margarine they ate.
Once the answers were recorded they waited to see what they died from.
Amazingly, people who ate as little as three pats of margarine a day had twice the heart-attack rate of those who ate less than a pat a day, far worse than those who ate lard or butter.
3. Margarine increases cholesterol.
Not only does margarine increase total cholesterol, it also increases the LDL (the bad cholesterol).
If that were not enough, margarine lowers the HDL which is the good cholesterol!
4. Margarine lowers quality of breast milk.
Studies show how a mother’s eating of trans fats affects the level of trans fats in her milk.
One study, for example, comparing Canadian breast milk to Chinese breast milk found that Canadian mothers had 33 more trans fats in their milk than the Chinese mothers.
So trans fats consumptions may affect the quality of breast milk.
5. Margarine decreases immune response.
According to Dr. Mary Enig, author of Know Your Fats 
(affiliate link), consuming trans fatty acids “Affects immune response by lowering efficiency of B cell response and increasing proliferation of T cells.” This decreases the body’s immune response.
6. Decreases insulin response.
Actually, the trans fats can increase blood insulin levels, which increases the risk for diabetes.
Mistake in Research
So, if margarine is actually bad for us, how did it get to be so popular? Pure and simple – money!
Margarine gained popularity beginning with America’s entry into World War I when there was a shortage of fats and cost of living was high. A cheaper alternative to the more expensive butter was quickly received by the uninformed public.
Dr. Mary Enig discovered during her research that the studies linking saturated fat to heart disease were wrong.
Saturated fats along with trans fats (partially hydrogenated fats) had been grouped together because of there similar chemical structure. This was done for analytical purposes.
These “minor” difference, however, made all the difference in the world to the conclusion of the research.
Dr. Enig found that when separated into different groups, saturated fats were found to have NO LINK to heart disease while trans fats were found to have a very strong link!
Unfortunately, when Dr. Enig tried to make others aware of the mistake, she was cast out. Naturally the edible oil industry whose profits she so threatened opposed her findings and she found herself unable to get grants, funding, or even a job.
Fortunately for us, she has continued her research quietly and is now on the board of the Weston A. Price Foundation.
What About “Heart Healthy” Substitutes?
You might try to compromise with heart healthy oil blends. Think again!
The word “Smart” should be taken out of Smart Balance!
As mentioned earlier not only is it full of artificial ingredients, synthetic vitamins which do nothing to boost your immune system (as those found in real butter do) and artificial colors but, the process to make them is called “interesterification” which may be even more dangerous to health than trans fats!
You can read more about the process here.
So, back to my question – is margarine harmful?
Personally, I’m sticking with the natural stuff from now on!
What about Earth Balance which is an organic spread that’s dairy-free? I have had to resort to this due to my little girl having an allergy to dairy.
Christina, have you tried using coconut oil as a spread and/or in place of butter? I have a friend who is in the same boat and coconut oil worked! I would beware of Earth Balance also! It is factory processed with money in mind! Unlike butter, it can not be made in your own kitchen with such simple ingredients as cream, mixer and a bowl.
Christina, definitely coconut oil is a good choice, plus extra virgin olive oil (regular olive oil is bulked up with rapeseed oil, an industrial oil powering cars in Europe as bio-diesel, which is manipulated into “Canola” to make it less harmful) So get real olive oil (that is extra virgin olive oil) or pure coconut oil. It may be more expensive, but is it worth to save few pennies to not to ruin someone’s health ? Ex Mayor of New York Bloomberg outlawed margarine (=trans fats) in New York and we understand that a country wide prohibition is on the way, unless some “money” is going to block it.
There are several doctors write about good and bad oils, among them, my hero Dr. Blaylock. Welcome to check his newsletters online.
Thanks, Gio Dio, I will definitely have to check out what you said about the regular olive oil. I have heard about the potential for impurities and lesser quality but not the other – ugh!
Hi GioDio, here in Australia, we have a margarine that is made from olive oil, having 17% saturated fat 0.2% trans fats ,14.2 ;polyunsaturated fats , and 13.6 monounsaturated fats,also vegetable oils, 63% Olive oil 20% plus colour, (probably beta carotene ) and Vitamiins .A & D. All that from the bottom of the tub of margarine , this sort of information being compulsory in all products here in Australia, especially including sodium content
Thank you. Love the article on margarine. So glad I can pass this on to my children and other people. So good to reveal the myths about food.
This is all we had growing up…yuck! Now I know better and we make our own butter 🙂
Excellent information! Thank you so much for sharing this with our readers on Wildcrafting Wednesday!
Thank you. very interesting.
In Nutrition books and journals we always find saturated fats harmful, related to cancers and heart disease.
how do you justify this?
I know that butter has CLA,a healthy ingredient. But what are the present evidence?
Thank you for asking! Modern medicine refused to see the error in the original study, plus the oil industry had much too lose. I encourage you to get a copy of Dr. Mary Enig’s book, “Know Your Fats” which is available on amazon – it explains more than I could in one blog post about the benefits of saturated fats – remember, the original study grouped the saturated fats along with trans fats (partially hydrogenated fats) because of there similar chemical structure. When these were separated into different groups, saturated fats were found to have NO LINK to heart disease while trans fats were found to have a very strong link. Also, go to the Weston A Price Foundation website and search “fats” – one very good article on there is The Oiling of America.
A great example to all of us on longevity of life with a traditional diet including plenty of good animal fats was Julia Child – she lived to be in her 90’s and even with all her butter and cream, she did not die of a heart attack but in her sleep 😉
Hi tehre. Love teh article, but would like to post it to a few friends who I knopw whould want to see WHERE teh evidence came from. Can you point us in the right direction?
Do you have access to the info that during WWII that margarine was given the US population, while butter was sent to the military troops? The theory was that butter prevents cramps and a soldier fighting for his life cannot afford to have cramps. This was told to me by a soldier that survived that war. Butter has complex F that prevents cramps and margarine does not. Is that a myth or real and who was the person that figured that out? I would appreciate your comments. Thank you, Dr. Mulhern.
I am allergic to dairy among other things and i had no idea tit was thise awful. Thank you for ruining baking for me, especially since im allergic to wheat eggs milk peanuts and dandelions.
Josephine, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news!
I have questions about stick margarine. I read the ingredients and there is nothing about “hydrogenated oils.” Can this info be trusted, and is the product safe from trans fats?
Lynnette, from my reading, the more solid the margarine, the more trans fat it contains. So, stick margarines usually have more trans fat than tub margarines do!
I would never give margarine to anyone or any diet products I call them plastic fantastic that’s just what all the none organic or should I say artificial foods are that the industry is supplying the markets today we need to go back to good old fashion eating we need to stop listening to the food industry and go back to respecting our bodies by not poisoning it with low fat this and that and start cooking from scratch using olive oil,real butter, God given food not man made.so take my advice for you to have a healthier body stop eating plastic fantastic food real yogurt not low fat real fish not fish finger and so on I grew up in a Mediterranean family my mother is nearly 78 has never dieted in her life as diet means die she has just always incorporated variety of all food groups and nuts yota
Wow thanks a lot i think margarine has costed my health i have avoided it now!
Norah, I am so glad to help – thanks for taking the time to comment!
Hey I just ate 3 slices of bread with margarine spread all over of them. Im afraid now..
thank you very much for the information that is contained in the article .this modern time we are in is really killing us indirectly.
How? pple are nolonger interested in natural subces everything is synthetically made, we should think twice otherwise we’re perishing. the industries what they hve in mind is money,
thank you very much
Much has been said about margarine and inceased cholesterol level. Well I grew up consuming mostly margarine instead of butter. And my annual health report for the past 20 years says I have healthy cholesterol level. As opposed to my co-workers who have mostly taken butter only, yet have high cholesterol level. I know I am just basing on one person’s personal experience (myself), and comparing it to a small sample, my colleagues. I haven’t done any scientific research on this either. So you don’t have to take my word for it.
Garry, thanks for taking the time to comment and give your opinion – I appreciate it! Another consideration is total lifestyle – food habits and activity level!
I think the vacant box of margarine become asepsis box , if margarine does not spoil.
You don’t recommend using margarine, but you eat bacon?
Lost all credibility with me.
Lisa, there is a big difference in the quality of fat between bacon (especially when fed little to no grain) and the processed fat found in margarine. The fat in margarine is not natural and is hard for our bodies to deal with ie. vessel clogging, plaque building… I would really encourage you to continue researching!
What about almond butter? Healthier or not?
Juana, almond butter is healthy!
Well folks, i grew up in a home where only margarine was used. Now 50 years later, me and my family still use it. No health problems at all. I feel that this margarine issue is blown right out of proporsion. I am 73 years old and i will keep on using it. Flora is my fovourite. Flora is made out of sunflower and vegetable oils. So why kick up a noise??
JJohnny, you are one of the fortunate ones that have not had problems. I hope your good health continues.
i have learnt alot from this article and i will try to teach others about margarine side effects
Emmanuel, I am so glad – there is so much to learn about feeding our bodies in a way that helps them repair, heal and maintain health.
This website has served as a confirmation to what I have always suspected.
As we stand now I haven’t been consuming margarine now for the last about six months. I noticed that the consumption of margarine was related to a sharp pain that I experieced from time to time on the left side of my chest close to my heart. Since I stop, there has been no more pain. I had stopped and lapsed a few times before stopping completely, and sure enough the pain showed up. This is why I went out searching if there was anyone speaking out about margarine.
Njung’e thank you for taking the time to tell of your experience!
i appreciate the work
Emmanuel, you are welcome and I appreciate your taking the time to comment.
Hi I live in NZ and have a problem with the ratio between good and bad cholesterol levels. I have started having olivia light margarine but am wondering now if this is a good alternative. My Dr told me once that animal fat was not good for my levels.
Nellie, I am not familiar with the margarine you are talking about. I know it can be difficult especially with the genetic side of high cholesterol because there is not much you can do. But, you can make sure you are exercising and eating well. I would encourage you to look into the GAPS diet. It is not a cure all but many times, our digestive system is not functioning properly and that can cause problems. Also, having beneficial bacteria in your gut is very important to overall health. Many times, cholesterol is elevated because there is a problem – it is not the problem. It is like blaming a firefighter on sight for the fire he is trying to put out. See Cholesterol the Unsung Antioxidant.
Thanks, Abeygale!