I love butter, and agree that butter is healthier for you than fake plastic marg.... but i think Sweetpeach would say that her point is that some people cant eat anything dairy.
Exactly. However, as I said in my original post, I don't eat either butter or margarine anyway.
Anyway, something being fake or having added ingredients does not make it any less healthy than something that is "natural" . Arsenic is a natural substance.
As for margarine being one molecule away from plastic, I did a google search and the first web page that was listed was a message board where an anonymous poster posted the same thing as Stacey, word for word. I guess they must have got it from the same source.
Here is the response to the post that appeared on that website: (The link is
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2004-01/1074274923.Ch.r.html.)
In brief, margarine is not close to plastic in molecular structure (unless you use the word "plastic" simply to mean something that is physically pliable) and is nutritionally the same as butter, except margarine has no cholesterol:
Re: Any truth to margarine being close to plastic in molecular structure?
Thu Jan 15 15:27:51 2004
Posted By: Todd Whitcombe, Associate Professor, Chemistry
Area of science: Chemistry
ID: 1071285191.Ch
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message:
No.
Okay, that is the simple answer. The full answer will take a little
longer and I will need to make clear some definitions and history.
First, "plastic" according to the Oxford English Dictionary
means "moulding, giving form to, clay, wax, or other yielding solid".
That is, something is "plastic" if it is maleable. And in this sense,
then, the statement that "margarine is plastic" is correct. Margarine can
be moulded and shaped. It is quite a good material for artistic work. Our
local culinary program spends some time creating "margarine" sculptures
each year.
But I don't think that that is what you mean by your question. I
gather what you would like to know is - is margarine "one molecule" away
from being a polymeric substance exhibiting the properties of
synthetic "plastic" compounds, like polyethylene or PET? It is that
question that the answer is "no". You could not simply add a molecule to
margarine and make plastic milk jugs or pop bottles.
Both butter and margarine owe their origins to animal fats. Butter is
made from milk fat. To make butter, it is necessary to take all of the
fat that is dispersed through the liquid component of the cream and to
get it into a single lump. Agitation results in the formation of bubbles
and the fat is thought to conglomerate in the walls of the bubbles. When
enough fat is collected together, the bubbles collapse and creamy, smooth
butter is formed. Butter has a composition that is essentially 80% animal
fat and 20% water with traces of other components. As it is made from
animal fat, there is a percentage of cholesterol found in butter - a
natural component of animal fat.
Margarine was developed in 1869 by the French pharmacist and chemist,
Hippolyte Mege-Mouries, after Napolean III offered a prize for the
formulation of a synthetic edible fat. It was originally made from animal
fats which are semi-solid at room temperature. Mege-Mouries was not the
first to give suet a buttery texture but he was the first to make it
palatable by flavouring it with milk.
It was not until 1905, after hydrogenation had been discovered, that
margarine could be conveniently made from the much more plentiful
vegetable oils. Hydrogenation results in a "saturated" fat. And saturated
fats have higher melting points than unsaturated fats. By hydrogenating
vegetable oils, a solid could be obtained. Modern margarine was born.
Margarine quickly caught on in Europe and elsewhere. Patents were
issued and production ramped up. But it was strongly opposed by the dairy
industry of the time. Legislation defined it as a "harmful drug" and its
sale was restricted. Then it was heavily taxed. Stores had to be licensed
to sell it. A "margarine" bootleg industry developed. In attempt to hold
it to its true "pasty white" colour, some states did not allow margarine
to be dyed yellow. (The dye was sold separately and mixed in with the
margarine at home.) But two World Wars and the consequent shortages of
butter, ensured margarine's place in the modern home. Still, it was not
until 1967 that yellow margarine could be sold in Wisconsin. Presently,
margarine sales are about 3 times those of butter.
Like butter, margarine is about 80% fat and 20% water and solids. But
being from vegetable sources, it lacks cholesterol. It is flavoured,
coloured, and fortified with vitamins and so "nutritionally" it is very
similar to butter - without the cholesterol. Today, soy and corn oils
predominate as the source - eating margarine is really not that much
different from eating the raw oils from either corn or soy. Yes, it has
been hydrogenated but it is certainly a lot lower in saturated fats than
butter. Indeed, the proportion of saturated fats in liquid oils, tub or
soft margarines, hard margarines, and butter increase in that order.
So, I am not sure where the rest of the information that you quote in
the message comes from. But the question of whether or not, "margarine is
but one molecule away from being plastic." is the equivalent of asking
whether or not corn oil or soy bean oil or peanut oil is "one molecule"
away from being plastic. Yes, if you were very persistent, you could
likely find a way to polymerize the double bonds - the "unsaturation" -
of the fatty acids in the margarine and in so doing make a long chain
polymeric substance that would be similar to other polymers. But "one
molecule away" implies that margarine is "essentially plastic" and this
is far from the truth. Margarine is not "plastic" and making it so would
be difficult.
Margarine does contains more double bonds than butter. This is a
good thing. It makes margarine easier to digest and better for our diet.
But if we are using the criteria that the presence of unsaturation could
be used to form a polymeric substance, then the same thing could be said
about butter or the trans and cis fatty acids in you. Personally, I don't
like to think of myself as being "one molecule away from being plastic".
Nor am I particularly worried about the notion that someone might find
that one molecule that would polymerize my double bonds!
Hope this answers your question. Personally, I only eat margarine.
