At the breakfast table, the bread slice on the plate, everyone has a favorite: some need the soft taste of butter On the Stulle.
The others prefer to reach for the margarine than herbal alternative.
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Margarine or butter: What is healthier?
“The question is not easy to answer,” says nutritionist and author Burkhard Jahn (“The healthy person”). And also the graduate ecotrophologist and fatty therapist Silke Lorenz-Gürtler says: “I would do the answer then who asks me.”
But from the front: The two competitors don’t do much in terms of calories. A painted tablespoon (10 grams) butter has 75 kcal, Margarine 72 kcal.
Butter and margarine: that is really in there
Butter is a natural product that is usually made from cow’s milk. In addition to the natural dye beta-carotene, it must not contain any artificial additives. And what about the cholesterol content? “It is around 240 milligrams in 100 grams of butter-about as much as in a single egg,” says Silke Lorenz-Gürtler.
Margarine, on the other hand, is an industrially manufactured product. In order for it to be spread, liquid oils and solid fats are used. For example, sunflower oil is hardened or solid fats such as palm core or coconut fat are used by nature.
“Since the composition can be very different, the health assessment is also very different,” says Lorenz-Gürtler. She relies on studies by Prof. Werner O. Richter. He is a scientific director of Academy for differentiated and integral fatty therapy.
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Fat is not the same fat
In any case, it is clear: fats don’t have it easy. “No other nutrient has such a bad reputation,” says nutritionist Burkhard Jahn, who teaches at the universities of Oldenburg and Hanover.
For decades, fats have been held responsible for many diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack and an increased risk of death. “Even for excessive cholesterol and overweight, they had to serve as a culprit,” says Jahn.
In the meantime, however, a distinction is made – because fat is not the same fat. At least the saturated fatty acids have now been “acquitted” according to Jahn.
Good news for all butter fans: because it consists of around two thirds.
In Margarine, the proportion of saturated fatty acids is usually lower. Here, too, the respective margarine products differ.
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Omega-6 fat and trans fat in margarine
Nutritionist Jahn sees two groups of fats more in terms of health, which are mainly in old margarine varieties: the omega-6 fats and the hardened fats.
“These are both fats that do a lot of nonsense in our body because they promote inflammation and increase blood pressure,” says the doctor. Today it was known that practically all chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, cancer, dementia and rheumatism resulted from years of inflammation processes.
“If I now eat fat in large quantities that promote inflammation, I make it easier to find chronic diseases.”
This also applies to Trans fat. They arise from vegetable fats, usually from oils. When heating, with temperatures of up to 350 degrees being involved. “But the fat structure changes, it becomes abnormal if you like,” warns Jahn.
Our body can handle natural fats and process them. “Trans fatty acids, on the other hand, do not include our organism and are related to a lot of health problems,” says Jahn. They can be found primarily in frying fat, but also in margarine.
Expert recommends organic margarine
And yet the nutritionist himself – like vegans – now prefers to reach for the margarine than the butter. Under a prerequisite: he does not take a cheap margarine from the discounter, but rather organic products and looks closely at the ingredients.
His tip: “If you buy margarine, then a high quality that consists of rapeseed oil and/or coconut oil and may still contain some carrot juice and almondmus.”
But the one who wants to do without hardened and omega-6 fats is not made easy: “Omega 6 will not read anything in the ingredients,” says Jahn. Because these would often hide behind sunflower oil.
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His conclusion: “For simplicity, you should prefer butter when you buy in the supermarket. There they will find it difficult to find good margarine. ”For health reasons, in any case, you can take butter with a clear conscience.
If you want to support the species -appropriate attitude of cows, you should choose butter with the reference “From grazing”. But it may also be that for ethical reasons you prefer margarine: “But then you should familiarize yourself what is on the label and best buy it in a health food store,” says Jahn.
Beware of fat metabolism disorders
Pay more attention to the choice of your prank fat should people with increased blood lipid levels. Silke Lorenz-Gürtler points out that butter has “a health that is not so favorable for fatty metabolism”. And Margarine can also have “unfavorable effects” due to certain fats and oils. Coconut fat, for example, increases the risk of fatty liver.
Her conclusion: “If a child asks me if it can cut butter on the bread, I would say: Of course! But I would rather advise someone with a fat metabolism disorder to pure sunflower margargarine. ”
But no matter what the experts prefer, butter almost always scores with a criterion: with taste. Margarine wins for this with every price comparison.
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