Spread the Word About Margarine : Nation’s Fixation on Fat and Cholesterol Has Caused Preference by Consumers

Butter-lovers have cursed, ignored and even enacted laws against it, but they haven’t been able to stop the spread.

Consumption of margarine has steadily--and rampantly--increased since it was concocted by French pharmacist Hippolyte Mege for butter-short troops during the Napoleonic Wars.

These days descendants of Mege’s invention fill tubs and sticks and squeeze bottles, jamming supermarket refrigerator cases. In 1987 Americans spent close to $1.5 billion on margarine products, and there’s every indication that the buying trend will remain strong.

In fact, much to the continual chagrin of farmers and their cows, we now consume twice as much margarine as butter.

Plenty of Confusion

The plenitude has wrought confusion, however. Margarine manufacturers have found a timely niche because of the national fixation over fat and cholesterol. Competition in the margarine marketplace now focuses on a given brand’s supposedly healthier choice of oil or its ability to help lower blood cholesterol.

Via label claims and television advertisements, we are led to believe there are distinctions that may mean the difference between a prudent purchase and a poor one.

Lever Brothers, for example, distributes a 72% vegetable-oil spread under the Promise brand that claims to have “no cholesterol” and is “low in saturated fat.” What the label doesn’t reflect, however, is that no margarines contain cholesterol, and that all margarines are low in saturated fat.

In fact, most margarine-type products are surprisingly similar. The biggest differences are among categories rather than brands. To bring order from confusion and evaluate those differences, it first helps to know the categories.

There are essentially seven different margarine-type products commonly available--three margarines, two margarine substitutes and several that fit into both FDA definitions.

The margarines, which must be at least 80% fat by weight, are:

--Stick margarines, which are more popular than any other kind of margarine product.

--Soft margarines in tubs.

--Liquid margarines in squeeze bottles.

--Margarine-butter blends such as Land O’Lakes Country Morning Blend. Not all blends have enough fat to fit into this category.

Margarine substitutes have less than 80% fat by weight. These substitutes may or may not be referred to as imitation margarine, which means that the product is not nutritionally equivalent to margarine in terms of vitamins, minerals and protein. Margarine substitutes include:

--Margarine-butter blends such as Blue Bonnet’s Better Blend.

--Vegetable-oil spreads, which have less total fat than margarine and have shown tremendous sales gains in recent years.

--Diet or reduced-calorie margarines, which usually have less total fat and fewer calories than vegetable oil spreads. There has been continuing controversy over whether these products can be called “diet” or “reduced-calorie” since the definition of margarine calls for a fat minimum which cannot be met by a calorie-reduced product. The FDA is in the process of reviewing the situation.

Created Almost Equal

Most margarines and margarine substitutes are created equal--or almost equal. Made by emulsifying oil and water, they differ primarily in the proportions of oil to water and the degree to which they are hardened.

Spreads and diet margarines have less fat in them because they have more water. Stick margarine products are obviously hardened more than those in tubs or squeeze bottles.

The hardening of oils is called hydrogenation --a chemical process that involves adding hydrogen gas to a heated oil. The process transforms a small amount of the polyunsaturated fats in the oil to saturated fats, some to monounsaturated fats and leaves others unchanged.

Practically all margarines and margarine substitutes are manufactured with the same additives. Mono- and di-glycerides and lecithin are used to emulsify and stabilize margarine; sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, citric acid and calcium disodium EDTA are used as preservatives; beta carotene is used to color margarine; and artificial flavors are added. Margarines are also fortified with Vitamin A.

Some consumers shun margarine because of the additives, claiming that they would rather eat a teaspoon of butter than a tablespoon of colorized yellow glop. And among serious cooks, there are many who are adamant against giving up the taste of butter. Even among health and nutrition professionals, there are differences in opinion.

Margarine (excluding margarine substitutes) and butter each contains 100 calories per tablespoon and 11 grams of fat. The major difference between all margarine-type products and butter is that butter contains cholesterol--31 milligrams per tablespoon--and margarines contain none. The only exceptions to this are margarine-butter blends, which contain a small amount of cholesterol.

The other difference between margarine-type products and butter is the type of fat. The fat in butter is predominantly saturated (7 grams of it), while the fat in margarine-type products is predominantly monounsaturated or polyunsaturated.

Regardless of the type of oil used, stick and tub margarines sold in this area generally contain 2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon; spreads contain either 1 gram or 2 grams of saturated fat and diet margarines generally contain 1 gram of saturated fat. Saturated fats have been implicated in raising blood cholesterol levels.

Robin Rifkin, a cooking teacher who used to work for Nathan Pritikin, generally uses oil or no fats when cooking, but if faced with a choice between butter or margarine, she will use a small bit of butter because she prefers the taste.

Most Additives Safe

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group that is often quick to criticize food additives, believes that the additives used to manufacture margarine are safe and that from a fat and cholesterol standpoint, margarine is more healthful than butter.

Janet Tenney, nutritionist for the Giant Food supermarket chain, uses margarine in her own cooking but believes that there are no hard and fast rules. If your diet doesn’t include much meat or cheese--two major sources of saturated fat--then some butter is acceptable, Tenney believes. The trick, Tenney, emphasized, is to decrease the amount of whatever you use.

The general advice from nutrition professionals has been to choose a margarine with a ratio of polyunsaturated fats to saturated fats of at least 2-to-1. The American Heart Assn. had long emphasized increasing the proportion of polyunsaturated fats in the diet, since they have been shown to lower blood cholesterol levels.

But the AHA, along with other nutrition and health groups, has backed away from the polyunsaturate bandwagon, instead recommending that consumers concentrate on decreasing first the total amount of fat in diets and then the amount of saturated fat. In this context, the ratio loses some importance.

“People who get hung up with choosing the margarine with the highest P-S ratio are getting hung up on the types of fat, rather than total fat,” said Tenney.

In addition, many margarines already fit into the 2-to-1 category--or at least are pretty close. “It’s not worth agonizing over a 2-to-1 or a 1-to-1 ratio,” said Bonnie Liebman, director of nutrition at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

A 2-to-1 ratio usually means 4 grams of polyunsaturated fat and 2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon. A 1-to-1 ratio usually translates into 2 grams of polyunsaturated fat and 2 grams of saturated fat. The rest of the fats are monounsaturated. There is some evidence that these types of fats may also lower blood cholesterol levels.

Joanne Guthrie, a registered dietitian and research nutritionist at the Lipid Research Clinic at George Washington University, said that instead of “nit-picking” over grams of fat in different kinds of margarine, it might be more advisable to switch to a different category altogether.

To cut down on total fat, switch from margarine on vegetables to lemon juice, or just jelly on toast instead of margarine and jelly, Guthrie said.

If one looks at margarine and margarine substitutes from the vantage point of calories, total fat and saturated fat, it emerges that: stick, tub and squeeze margarines and margarine-butter blends are virtually identical; margarine substitutes in tubs and sticks have fewer calories, less total fat and usually less saturated fat than regular margarine; diet margarines have the fewest calories, and least total fat and saturated fat.

A survey of products, per tablespoon, at Washington supermarkets shows:

--Stick margarine: 100 calories, 11 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat. (Imperial, Fleischmann’s, Lucerne, Mazola, Mrs. Filbert’s, Parkay, Coldbrook, Land O’ Lakes, Blue Bonnet.)

--Tub margarine: 100 calories, 11 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat. (Parkay, Land O’ Lakes, Fleischmann’s.)

--Squeeze margarine: 100 calories, 11 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat. These products are generally higher in polyunsaturated fats than any other type of margarine. (Parkay, Fleischmann’s.)

--Butter-margarine blend: 100 calories, 11 grams fat, 3 grams saturated fat (Land O’ Lakes Country Morning Blend). 90 calories, 11 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat (Blue Bonnet Better Blend).

--Margarine substitute spreads: 60 to 90 calories, 6 to 9 grams fat, 1 or 2 grams saturated fat. From lowest to highest: Imperial Light Spread (60 calories, 6 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat); Parkay Spread (60 calories, 7 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat); Promise Extra Light, Shedd Spread, Mrs. Filbert’s Family Spread (70 calories, 7 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat); Giant Spread (70 calories, 8 grams total fat, 1 gram saturated fat); Mrs. Filbert’s Spread 25, Coldbrook Light Spread (80 calories, 8 grams total fat, no data on saturated fat); I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, Promise (90 calories, 10 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat).

--Margarine substitute sticks: 80 to 90 calories, 8 to 10 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat. Giant’s Generic Spread (80 calories, 8 grams total fat, no data on saturated fat); Shedd Spread (80 calories, 9 calories fat, 2 grams saturated fat); I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, Promise (90 calories, 10 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat).

--Diet margarine: 50 calories, 6 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat (Diet Imperial, Weight Watchers Reduced Calorie, Parkay Reduced Calorie.)

The following generalizations can be made concerning the cost of margarines and margarine substitutes:

The most expensive products are likely to be those butter and margarine blends that contain a significant amount of butter (such as Country Morning Blend, which has 40% sweet cream butter).

The least expensive products are likely to be margarine substitutes in tubs, which often come in containers big enough to feed a small army.

Margarines that come packaged in two 8-ounce tubs are more expensive per ounce than sticks. Diet margarine, which has more water than any of the other products, is more expensive than the large containers of margarine substitutes in tubs but is generally less expensive than real margarine in tubs.

Cooking Suggestions

Kraft makes a product in five of the categories of margarines and margarine substitutes. Deborah Kraft-Ramsey, manager of Kraft Kitchens, made the following suggestions for cooking with each:

--Stick margarine. All-purpose product. Can be substituted in equal quantities for butter in baked goods, for sauteing and so on.

--Tub margarine. Main use is table spread, but can be used for sauteing and in baked goods. Cookie dough may be softer than when using stick margarine.

--Squeeze margarine. Convenience item for pouring over popcorn, vegetables or on top of bread for grilled cheese sandwiches. Can be used for baking, but doughs may be soft. Cake frostings left at room temperature will get watery.

--Margarine substitute spread. Recommended primarily as a table spread. Can be used for baking, but cakes will have a tougher texture. Consumer panels at Kraft were willing to trade the differences for the reduction in fat and calories. Cooks at Kraft’s test kitchen have used less milk or water in baked products made with spreads, but have also had satisfactory results using unadapted recipes.

--Diet margarine. Recommended solely as a spread. Because of their high water content, these margarines may spatter when used for sauteing. Not recommended for baking.