How healthy or unhealthy is butter really?

1. It used to be so nice and simple: You put real butter on your sandwich. If you thought that was too expensive, you took margarine and if you were on the line you took margarine. Period! But times change, and in the past ten years, countless types of spreads have been added to your bread.

1. The one, according to the commercial, even better than the other. â € Good for your heartâ € ™, â € good for the figureâ € ™ etc. etc. But lately the discussion has turned 360 degrees:

1. Butter is allowed again, butter turns out not to be as unhealthy as they previously claimed.

1. Butter is delicious on a fresh spelled bread or a tasty cracker. It used to be the most normal thing in the world that you ate butter until butter ended up on the penalty bench because it would suddenly be â € unhealthyâ € ™. Coincidentally, it was at the same time that margarine became popular. Margarine labeled as the â € healthyâ € ™ butter.

1. What is all this true about this? Is real butter really that bad for your health?

1. Or maybe we should turn the question around:

1. Is the alternative, a margarine, better for your health than the real, old-fashioned butter?

1. To explain this, let's go back in time to the pre-margarine era:

Butter in the pre-margarine era

1. Until the end of the nineteenth century, butter was viewed only as an insignificant by-product of emerging livestock farming. The butter was actually only used by the farmer himself and the family. So there were no commercial interests involved with this product at all.

2. Until the end of the nineteenth century, butter was viewed only as an insignificant by-product of emerging livestock farming. The butter was actually only used by the farmer himself and the family. So there were absolutely no commercial interests involved with this product.

1. Partly thanks to the economic growth at the end of the nineteenth century, the demand for good dairy products began to increase. Not so much of the â € ˜commonâ € ™ people, but more of the rich class. The farmers took advantage of this and started to cash in on the by-product and market it commercially.

1. At first manual but, thanks to the invention of the centrifuge by the Swede Gustaaf de Laval, this quickly turned into a true industry. The only problem was that the color of the butter changed seasonally. In the winter the butter was pale in color, in the summer it was beautifully yellow. The consumer only wanted the beautiful yellow butter. This problem, too, was solved relatively quickly with the invention of a natural coloring agent called â € carotene colorâ € ™ or â € Orlean pasteâ € ™.

2. At first manual but, thanks to the invention of the centrifuge by the Swede Gustaaf de Laval, this quickly turned into a true industry. The only problem was that the color of the butter differed seasonally. In the winter the butter was pale in color, in the summer it was beautifully yellow. The consumer only wanted the beautiful yellow butter. This problem, too, was solved relatively quickly with the invention of a natural coloring agent called â € carotene colorâ € ™ or â € Orlean pasteâ € ™.

1. Trade went well until margarine was born in the second half of the nineteenth century.

The rise of the margarine

1. Believe it or not, the margarine was once introduced by two families from Oss: The Jurgens family and the van den Bergh family. Both families were wholesalers of real butter. But due to the high demand for real butter, the price was high and practically unaffordable for the lower class. They got wind of a new product: Margarine, which could be produced on a large scale at a much lower price than butter.

1. In the year 1900 the Vitella and Solo brands were introduced and not without success. Almost 30 years later, the two family businesses started working together definitively and founded the â € ˜ Margarine unionâ € ™. Collaboration was soon sought and found abroad. A merger between the Dutch â € ˜ Margarine Unionâ € ™ and the English â € Lever Brothersâ € ™ resulted in a new company: Unilever.

2. In 1900 the brands Vitella and Solo were introduced and not without success. Almost 30 years later, both family businesses started working together and founded the â € ˜ Margarine Unionâ € ™. Collaboration was soon sought and found abroad. A merger between the Dutch â € ˜ Margarine unionâ € ™ and the English â € Lever Brothersâ € ™ resulted in a new company: Unilever.

1. After the First World War, the success of the margarine declined again due to the falling price of butter. To overcome this, Unilever added Vitamin A and Vitamin D to the margarine so that it would be nutritionally equal to butter.

1. Later, in the 1960s, this was once again supported by the â € margarine decisionâ € ™ whereby the additions were mandatory by law. â € Officiallyâ € ™ margarine was now equal to butter. The consumer swallowed that like a sweet cake, and sales rose to heaven again.

2. Later, in the 1960s, this was once again supported by the â € margarine decisionâ € ™ whereby the additions were required by law. â € Officiallyâ € ™ margarine was now equal to butter. The consumer swallowed that like a sweet cake, and sales rose to heaven again.

1. At one point Unilever received a request from the medical world to make a â € healthierâ € ™ margarine, a margarine that should contain more unsaturated fats. At that time it had just become known that the saturated fats in the old margarine would cause problems for cardiovascular disease.

2. At one point, Unilever received a request from the medical world to make a â € healthierâ € ™ margarine, a margarine that should contain more unsaturated fats. At that time it had just become known that the saturated fats in the old margarine would cause problems for cardiovascular disease.

1. Unilever developed the still existing Becel, which was initially only available in pharmacies. This became available to the general public in the late 1960s. And the consumer was very satisfied: Becel was a healthier alternative to butter and the so-called hard margarines.

1. All this suited Unilever well, because during the same period a heated discussion had started about the trans fats present in the margarines, also in the Becel. But because the discussion was about the risk of cardiovascular disease, for which Becel was the solution, the discussion about trans fats was pushed into the background.

1. It was not until the 1990s that the food industry recognized that these same trans fats could be the cause of many cardiovascular diseases. Unilever backed down, and in 1995 launched a margarine that contained significantly less trans fats.

The consequences of margarine use

1. From the foregoing, you can conclude that everyone has been ingesting large amounts of harmful trans fats for nearly a hundred years. At that time, Bona and Zeeuws Girl contained about a quarter of trans fats!

1. A study showed that before the advent of margarine, people rarely died of coronary thrombosis. After the introduction of the margarine, and certainly after it became available to the general public, cases of cardiovascular disease soared. Still something to think about…

Changed views on butter

1. Until the turn of the century, most of the Dutch population depended on the print media and manufacturers for information about healthy and unhealthy foods. Unsurprisingly, all foods were considered â € healthyâ € ™ by the manufacturer.

1. But after the advent of the Internet, a wealth of information has become available, and the available information is also shared more quickly. Although there is of course a lot of nonsense spread over the Internet, this has led to the fact that the truth about margarine, and the real story about the possible 'bad' influence of butter is finally on the table.

1. Although saturated fat is now on the penalty bench, your body still needs these fats. But it is important to get the right saturated fats. Butter contains many saturated fats that consist of short chains, so it is easy to digest and has a beneficial effect on your intestines. In addition, the good cream butter contains vitamin D, vitamin A

1. It is true that butter contains trans fatty acids, about 2-3%. But it is good to know that these are animal trans fatty acids. And research has shown that it is precisely this form that can provide protection against cancer and cardiovascular disease. Butter is a product that is very close to nature, from which you can conclude that the healthier the cow is, the better the butter is.

1. [!Pull ratio] Therefore, make a conscious choice for butter from organic grass-fed cows [!/ pull ratio]. Not only delicious in taste, but you can smear your spelled bread without feeling guilty with this natural product, of course in moderation!

 € Butterâ € ™ is a protected name

1. Not everything may just be called â € butterâ € ™. The designation â € butterâ € ™ is protected by Dutch law, and may only be attached to a product if it consists of at least 80% milk fat. In concrete terms, this means that if there is â € ˜butterâ € ™ on the package, it does indeed contain real butter. If there is no butter on it, you are dealing with a margarine, or an artificial butter, which in my opinion it is better to stay away from.

1. The terms â € ˜real butterâ € ™ or â € cream butterâ € ™ do not differ: This is all about butter, as laid down by law.

1. But there are of course quality differences within all available butter products: It should be clear that butter from organic cows that eat fresh grass in the pasture most of the year, has a better taste and a has higher quality than butter from cows that are bored all day in the stable.

Conclusion

1. From all of the above, I can conclude that we cannot just accept all health claims about margarines. Far too much has been tampered with, especially in the past. Just eating honest and real butter is much better. Fat is not bad at all, and in the limited amounts of butter we don't get fat at all. The saturated fats in butter are easily digestible fats, fats that our body simply needs to function better.

1. Of course like everything, but in moderation!

1. What we should be more concerned about is the excessive consumption of sugar, which makes us all fat.

1. And you? What do you put on the breakfast table in the morning? Real butter or a margarine? And why?