Everything about Margarine totally explained
Margarine (or /ˈmɑrgəriːn/), as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of
butter substitutes. In many parts of the world, margarine has become the best-selling table spread, although butter and
olive oil also command large market shares. Margarine is an ingredient in the preparation of many other foods. In some regions people may refer to margarine as
butter in informal speech, but in several countries laws forbid food packaging to refer to margarine as "butter". Recipes sometimes refer to margarine as
oleo.
History
Margarine has a long and sometimes confusing history. Its name originates with the discovery by
Michel Eugène Chevreul in
1813 of "margaric acid" (itself named after the pearly deposits of the fatty acid from
Greek or μάργαρον (margarís, -îtēs / márgaron), meaning "a pearl-oyster" or "a pearl"). Scientists at the time regarded margaric acid, like
oleic acid and
stearic acid, as one of the three
fatty acids which, in combination, formed most
animal fats. In
1853 the German structural chemist
Wilhelm Heinrich Heintz analyzed margaric acid as simply a combination of stearic acid and of the previously unknown
palmitic acid.
In
1869 Emperor Louis Napoleon III of
France offered a prize to anyone who could make a satisfactory substitute for butter, suitable for use by the
armed forces and the
lower classes. French
chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés invented a substance he called
oleomargarine, the name of which became shortened to the trade name "Margarine".
Margarine now refers
generically to any of a range of broadly similar edible
oils. The name
oleomargarine is sometimes abbreviated to
oleo.
Manufacturers produced oleomargarine by taking clarified vegetable fat, extracting the
liquid portion under
pressure, and then allowing it to
solidify. When combined with
butyrin and
water, it made a cheap and more-or-less palatable butter-substitute. Sold as
Margarine or under any of a host of other trade names, butter-substitutes soon became a substantial market segment — but too late to help Mège-Mouriés: although he expanded his initial manufacturing operation from
France to the
United States in
1873, he'd little commercial success. By the end of the decade both the
old world and the
new could buy artificial butters.
From that time on, two main trends would dominate the margarine
industry: on one hand a series of refinements and improvements to the product and its manufacture, and on the other a long and bitter struggle with the
dairy industry, which defended itself from the margarine industry with vigor. As early as
1877 the first
U.S. states had passed laws to restrict the sale and labelling of margarine. By the mid-
1880s the United States federal government had introduced a tax of two cents per pound, and devotees needed an expensive license to make or sell the product. Individual states began to require the clear labelling of margarine, banning passing it off as real butter.
The key to slowing margarine sales (and protecting the established dairy industries), however, emerged as restricting its color. Margarine naturally appears white or almost white: by forbidding the addition of artificial coloring-agents, legislators found that they could keep margarine off kitchen tables. Bans on coloration became commonplace around the world and endured for almost 100 years. It didn't become legal to sell colored margarine in
Australia, for example, until the
1960s.
Margarine in the USA
In the United States, the color bans, drafted by the butter lobby, began in the dairy states of
New York and
New Jersey. In several states, the legislature enacted laws to force margarine manufacturers to add pink colorings to make the product look unpalatable, but the Supreme Court struck down New Hampshire's law and overruled these measures. By the start of the
20th century, eight out of ten Americans couldn't buy yellow margarine, and those that could had to pay a hefty tax on it. Bootleg colored margarine became common, and manufacturers began to supply food-coloring capsules so that the consumer could knead the yellow color into margarine before serving it. Nevertheless, the regulations and taxes had a significant effect: the 1902 restrictions on margarine color, for example, cut annual U.S. consumption from 120 million to 48 million pounds (54,000 to 22,000
tons). However, by the end of the 1910s, it had become more popular than ever.
With the coming of
World War I, margarine consumption increased enormously, even in unscathed regions like the United States. In the countries closest to the fighting, dairy products became almost unobtainable and were strictly
rationed. The
United Kingdom, for example, depended on imported butter from Australia and
New Zealand and the risk of
submarine attack meant that little arrived. Margarine became the
staple spread, and butter a rare and expensive
luxury.
The long-running
rent-seeking battle between the margarine and dairy
lobbies continued: in the United States, the
Great Depression brought a renewed wave of pro-dairy legislation; the
Second World War, a swing back to margarine. Post-war, the margarine lobby gained power and, little by little, the main margarine restrictions were lifted, the last state to do so being
Wisconsin in
1967. However, some vestiges of the legal restrictions remain in the U.S.: the
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act still prohibits the retail sale of margarine in packages larger than one pound .
Margarine in Canada
In Canada, margarine was banned from 1886 until 1948 though this ban was temporarily lifted from 1917 until 1923 due to dairy shortages. As of 2008,
Quebec, which requires margarine to be colorless, is the only jurisdiction in North America to regulate the color of margarine. Quebec's margarine law was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2005..
The total amount of fat you eat isn't really linked with disease. However, fat consumption in the Western world is quite high, which is one of the reasons for weight problems. Traditional margarine (~80% fat) contributes to this, but isn't the main factor causing over-consumption. Low-fat spreads could serve as an alternative, and are widely available.
The roles of butter and margarine are quite similar with respect to their energy content.
Saturated fat
The
saturated fatty acids in triglycerides contribute to elevated blood cholesterol levels, which in turn has often been linked to cardiovascular diseases. Saturated fat increases both LDL and HDL cholesterol.
Vegetable fats can contain anything between 10% and 100% saturated fatty acids. Liquid oils (unhardened
canola oil, sunflower oil) tend to be on the low end, while tropical oils (
coconut oil,
palm kernal oil) and fully hardened oils are at the high end of the scale. A margarine blend is a mixture of both types of components, and will rarely exceed 50% saturated fatty acids on fat. Exceptions are some traditional kitchen margarines or products that have to maintain stability under tropical conditions. Generally, firmer margarines contain more saturated fat.
Regular butterfat contains ~65% saturated fatty acids on fat, although this varies somewhat with season. One tablespoon of butter contains over 7g of saturated fat.
Unsaturated fat
The
unsaturated fatty acids decrease LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) levels and increase HDL cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol) levels in blood stream, thus reducing the risk for cardiovascular diseases.
There are two types of unsarurated fats: mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Their nutritional and healt effects are similar.
Some vegetable oils such as
rapeseed (canola),
sunflower,
safflower, and
olive oils contain high amount of unsaturated fats indicate a link between consumption of high amounts of
trans fat and coronary heart diseas, and possibly some other diseases. This is mainly because trans fats increase the amount of LDL cholesterol and decrease the amount of HDL cholesterol in blood stream. The United States
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the
American Heart Association (AHA) all have recommended people to limit intake of trans-fat.
Trans fats don't occur naturally in vegetable fats but are a consequence of partial hydrogenation of the fats (in contrast, full hydrogenation doesn't generate trans fats, but only fully saturated fats). Particularly in the US, partial hydrogenation has been common as a result of the dependence on a very limited number of vegetable oil sources. In other parts of the world, the industry started to move away from using partially hydrogenated oils since the mid-nineties, and produce new margarine varieties that contain less or no trans fat . Many manufacturers in the US now label their products according to government regulations now as "zero grams" trans-fat, which effectively means less than 500 mg trans-fat per serving.
Butterfat contains 2-5% trans fatty acids (mainly C18:1w7).
Cholesterol
Typically about 70% of the clolesterol is produced by the human body and only 30% comes from nutrition.
Intake of cholesterol has less effect on blood cholesterol levels than the type of fat you eat. Margarine contains only negligible amount or no cholesterol.
Plant sterol/stanol esters
Plant
sterol esters or plant
stanol esters have been added to some margarines and spreads because of their cholesterol lowering effect.
Several studies have indicated that consumption of about 2 grams per day provides a reduction in LDL cholesterol of about 10%.
Sterol/stanol esters are tasteless and odorless, and have the same physical and chemical properties typical of most fats. However, they don't enter the the blood stream but instead pass through the gut. Thus they suit well to be used in low-fat spreads.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Margarine'.
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