Did you know that heart disease was rare in America at the turn of the last century? Then suddenly between 1920 and 1960, heart disease became America’s number one killer.
So what happened? At this time in modern history, a major marketing campaign was launched to demonize butter in replace of margarine. Butter was labeled as causing heart disease, with margarine right there to take its place.
And it worked.
Butter consumption plummeted from 18 pounds per person per year to merely four. Margarine sales hit the roof.
Heart Disease
Today, heart disease is still a major health threat and statin drugs are a big seller, but I think it’s safe to conclude that butter is not the cause. Nevertheless, research shows that trans fats found in margarine can cause heart disease.
Margarine
Margarine was discovered in 1869 as the product of Napoleon III’s request for a wholesome butter alternative. This was not because butter was unhealthy.
Napoleon’s primary goal was to supply food to the French army that would not spoil.
This new discovery worked, and after WWI, manufacturers introduced this “new margarine wonder” to the American public, using the fear of heart disease as its main endorsement.
After WWI, margarine came out of American commissaries and into the grocery stores. Many products have been born from wartime needs, and good-ole-natural-butter was pushed off our tabletops as a war casualty.
It’s important to remember that this isn’t because butter is unhealthy; it is because margarine has many marketing advantages over butter – margarine can sit on the grocery shelves for months without spoiling, and diluted margarine products bring in more corporate profits.
Butter
Butter is a cooking treasure as old as King Tut’s tomb. My grandparents ate nothing but butter every day, and they lived to be over 100 years old with no heart problems. Butter didn’t harm them, and it shouldn’t harm you or me when used in moderation, and when eating from organic and natural sources.
Unlike margarine, butter contains many nutrients that protect human beings from heart disease.
Vitamin A found in butter is a critical nutrient for the health of the thyroid and adrenal glands, which both play a role in heart and cardiovascular health. Butter is America’s best and most easily absorbed source of vitamin A.
Butter also has vitamin E, and both vitamin A and vitamin E in butter play a strong anti-oxidant role in human health.
Butter contains lecithin, a substance that assists in the proper assimilation and metabolism of cholesterol and other fat components. Butter also contains a number of anti-oxidants that protect against free radical damage that can weaken the arteries.
Butter is a very rich source of selenium, another vital anti-oxidant. Butter contains more selenium per gram than herring or wheat germ.
Your immune system loves butter, not margarine or margarine products. Hydrogenated fats found in polyunsaturated oils, margarine, and many butter substitutes have a toxic effect on the immune system.
So, as King Tut would say, butter is better.
