Which is healthier? Butter or Margarine

We've all been brought up with the idea that vegetable oils are healthier, margarine is healthier than butter, food cooked fried in lard is sinful, while food fried in vegetable oil is just mildly unhealthy. Yet, the fact is, depending on the type of vegetable oil you are using, it may actually be healthier to eat food cooked in animal fats.

The reason for this is a thing called Trans Fatty Acids (TFA). What's this TFA? Well, simply put its a bad thing. Its even worse than saturated fats as TFA not only increases the amount of LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) in your blood, but also reduces the amount of HLD cholesterol (the good one). LDL is what causes your arteries to clog, which leads to heart attacks and strokes.

The worst news of all is that TFA exists in much of today's food products. Margarine has tonnes of it, so does Mac's fries, potato chips and so on. Basically, much of what is fried, regardless of the oil used, will contain some amount of TFA. Vegetable oil on its own is relatively healthy. But once exposed to very high temperatures (like in a deep fryer) or hydrogenated (to make it harder, like in margarine) tonnes of TFA are produced.

So next time you are out shopping for a snack, do look at the ingredients label and check for terms like "(partially) hydrogenated vegetable oil", cos eating less of these stuff could one day save your life...

Studies on the potential cholesterol-raising effects of trans fatty acids have raised public concern about using margarine and whether other options, such as using butter (despite its high level of saturated fat and cholesterol), might be better choices. Some stick margarines contribute more trans fatty acids than unhydrogenated (HI'dro-jen-a-tid or hi-DROJ'en-a-tid) oils or other fats.

While studies have shown that using margarine can lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol when compared with butter, trans fatty acids can raise LDL and lower HLD ("good") cholesterol.

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