Dearest FDA, Couldn’t our ingredient labels simply include: FOOD or NOT FOOD, following a list of partially-hydrogenated this or mono-diglycerides that?
Mother Nature and margarine just can’t relate to one another. Margarine is closer to plastic than it is to food or Mother Nature, since it’s ARTIFICIAL MATTER. No matter what the label says, margarine is definitely TRANS FAT. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, trans fat isn’t something anyone should be eating. Ever.
Zero doesn’t mean Zero. The FDA allows .49 grams of trans fat to read 0 grams on your label. Deceitful, I know.
Quick Margarine 101: Birth and History of Oleo~
1. In 1869, Emperor Louis Napoleon III of France offered a prize to anyone who could make a satisfactory substitute for butter, suitable for use by the armed forces and the lower classes.(1)
2. French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés invented a substance he called oleomargarine in 1869. (2) He sure won a prize! Um, way to go?
3. Margarine was banned in my state of Minnesota until 1963. Minnesota held out second longest amongst all of the United States, surpassed in ban only by Wisconsin, who held out until 1967. (3)
4. How it’s made: see previous post on hydrogenation
Effects on us
1. Increases risk of Coronary Disease
2. Slows metabolism, increasing risk of Obesity
3. Increases risk of Stroke
4. Increases risk of Type II Diabetes
5. Neurodegeneration, increasing risk of Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Diseases
6. It takes 51 days for the body to metabolize half of the trans fat consumed.
Margarine Alternatives, Mother Nature Approved:
1. Well, REAL FOOD, such as
2. Unsalted Butter
3. Extra Virgin Olive oil
4. Coconut Oil
What are you waiting for? Toss those tubs out.
Sources
1. Science Power 9: Atlantic Edition, McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. ISBN 0-07-560905-3
2. Time Magazine (1924) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,719022,00.html
3. http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-war-on-margarine/
