Lifehacker,
Chris Jager, 11 February 2013
Butter picture from Shutterstock |
A new study
by the US National Institute of Health based on prior Australian research has
cast fresh doubts on whether margarine is healthier than butter. For decades,
butter’s more spreadable cousin has been considered a better option for weight-watchers
trying to reduce fatty acids from their diet. However, according to the new
report, margarine eaters are actually more likely to die from a heart attack
than people who stick to butter.
The
research team based its findings on a recently unearthed Australian heart study
from the 1960s and 70s, which monitored the dietary effects of two types of
fats on 458 males between the ages of 30 and 59.
The test
subjects, all of whom had suffered from a previous coronary event, were divided
into two groups. One group was instructed to limit their intake of saturated
animal fats in favour of omega 6 linoleic acid (a polyunsaturated vegetable fat
commonly found in margarines). The other group was given no dietary advice at all.
Over the course of the study, deaths caused by heart-related issues were
significantly higher in the first group.
“In this
cohort, substituting dietary linoleic acid in place of saturated fats increased
the rates of death from all causes, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular
disease,” the report stated.
The study
concludes that worldwide dietary guidelines need to rethink the “saturated fat
bad, omega 6 good” dogma when it comes to processed foods and cooking
ingredients.
However,
before you toss out that tub of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better, it’s worth
noting that the above findings are far from unanimously supported.
Bill
Shrapnel, deputy chairman of the Sydney University Nutrition Research
Foundation, has fired out at the US report which he claims is based on data
from outmoded food manufacturing practices.
“The
authors [of the US report] state that the [Australian] study assessed the
effects of replacing saturated fat in the diet with omega 6 polyunsaturated
fats, but it doesn’t,” Shrapnel explained in a public statement.
“The
[original] study used Miracle margarine as a source of polyunsaturated fat. In
the 1960s, when this study began, Miracle margarine contained approximately 15
per cent trans fatty acids, which have the worst effect on heart disease risk
of any fat. The adverse effect of the intervention in this study was almost
certainly due to the increase in trans fatty acids in the diet.”
As Shrapnel
goes on to explain, trans fatty acids were largely removed from Australian
margarines in the mid-1990s when their dietary dangers were discovered.
In other
words, while margarines of the past may well have been worse than butter, the
brands on today’s supermarket shelves are not quite as artery-clogging. The
relatively small size of the study (just 63 total deaths) is also worth taking
into consideration.
So is
margarine better than butter? It seems we still won’t have a definitive answer
until a thorough study into the dietary effects of polyunsaturated fats is
conducted.
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