Margarine is a product based on vegetable oil, water,
emulsifiers with added flavorings. As
solid cooking oil margarine is widely used
as an ingredient in the preparation of many dishes.
From a consumer point of view, margarine can be considered
like the ersatz of butter. In common parlance and in hidden
margarine advertisements are also often referred to as butter (for example,
“Light oil”), however, in most countries,
it is forbidden to indicate the word “butter” on margarine packages.
Modern margarine can be made from various
types of vegetable fats, both refined and
additionally hydrogenated, it is also possible to enter animals
fat. To give high taste to its composition
various flavoring additives are introduced: milk powder, whey,
salt, sugar, flavorings and other food additives.
Recently, on the packaging you can find the words
Margarine and spread. Sellers often state that this is
same. The production of these products is very similar,
but it is regulated by different regulatory documents.
The spreads are limited to the use of hydrogenated
fat and regulatory control of the content of trans isomers
fatty acids, and in margarine these parameters are almost not
have legal restrictions.
Three main types of margarine
- Hard, usually uncolored, cooking margarine
or baked goods high in animal fat. - “Traditional” spread margarines
on toast with a relatively high percentage
saturated fat. Made from animal fat or
vegetable oil. - Margarines high in mono- or poly-unsaturated
fat. Produced from dye safflower (Carthamus
tinctorius), sunflower, soybean, cottonseed or olive
oils and are definitely healthier,
than butter or other types of margarine due to
significantly lower content of saturated
fat and complete absence of cholesterol.
Many of today’s popular “smear products” are
a mixture of margarine and butter, that is, what is long-lasting
time was illegal in the USA and Australia, as well as others
countries. These products were created to combine such
characteristics such as low price and easily spreadable artificial
butter with the taste of real.
Useful properties of margarine
Margarine. Its basis is hydrogenated
vegetable oils, also water, emulsifiers
and flavors. In many countries, margarine is
the best-selling food of all edible fats. Besides
Moreover, it is widely used in cooking and in hidden
form is a part of many products.
The basis of margarine production technology is still
is the catalytic hydrogenation of unsaturated
fat. When hydrogenating liquid vegetable oils
the so-called salomas is obtained, which is then used
as the main component of margarine.
Spreads and ghee. Spread (read “spread”)
Is a “soft butter” food product containing
a mixture of vegetable and milk fats. It smudges easily
even after cooling. According to GOST., Spreads
are divided into three types:
- Creamy vegetable contains more than 50% milk
fat (they are the closest to natural creamy
oil); - Vegetable-creamy contain from 15 to 49% milk
fat; - Vegetable and fatty foods do not contain milk fat (in fact,
pure margarine).
The difference between the spread and margarine is that the spread is limited
content of hydrogenated fats. In such margarine
there is practically no limitation.
The content of trans fatty acids in the spreads is not
must exceed 8 percent. In European countries
the content of these substances is regulated within
from two to five percent.
It is very important which vegetable fats are used.
for making a spread. Fats from a mixture of palm and
coconut oil contains almost no trans isomers, and
here hydrogenated vegetable oils already contain
16 to 26 percent of trans fats.
Most of us use margarine all the time during
cooking time, as well as as an independent
food product. In a crisis, plays an important role
price – margarine is much cheaper than butter
butter.
Dangerous properties of margarine
There has long been a scientific controversy surrounding trans fats. Alone
scientists believe that trans fats are not particularly
danger to the human body, others prove
that trans fats cause significant harm to our health.
By acting on the cell walls, trans fat molecules make them
solid. In turn, the hardening of the cell walls increases
risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, trans fats increase
the level of “bad” cholesterol
in blood serum, reduce the body’s defenses, and also negatively
affect the quality of sperm in men.
Instead of margarine, doctors advise to consume traditional
vegetable oils and butter, but in reasonable
limits. You should also read the labels carefully
finished products (baked goods, cookies, chips, confectionery
products, semi-finished products and others), are there
in them hydrogenated, that is, the very dangerous,
trans fats, transmit
In Austria, Denmark and Switzerland, trans fats are under
ban. In the United States, a ban on trans fats has been introduced in certain
cities and states, notably New York and the state of California.
Calling on your government to ban trans fats
the doctors of the British Faculty of Health applied.
The World Health Organization calls for a ban
trans fats in all countries.
Those who use too much risk their health.
a lot of saturated fat, namely butter.
Doctors believe that eating saturated fat provokes
the development of atherosclerosis, heart attacks and strokes.
