/oss/taxonomy/term/442/all en /oss/article/nutrition-you-asked/why-cant-you-use-low-fat-margarine-frying <p>Margarine is fat. It’s just a different kind of fat from butter. Whereas butter contains mostly saturated fats, margarine’s fats are unsaturated. This just refers to a slight variation in the molecular structure which does have consequences in terms of blood cholesterol levels. Essentially saturated fats increase cholesterol, while unsaturated ones in moderation do not. So if margarine is just fat, how can there be a “low fat” version? Easy. Just mix the fat with water.</p> Fri, 06 Aug 2021 20:40:54 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8800 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition-history/how-did-margarine-come-about <p>Emperor Napoleon III offered a prize to anyone who could find "a suitable substance to replace butter for the navy and less prosperous classes." The French chemist Hippolyte Mege-Mouries had already been working on just such a project and quickly submitted his entry for the competition. He won!  This was no great surprise because his was the only entry. The inventor had noted that cow's milk contained fat even when the animals were undernourished and were losing weight.</p> Thu, 13 Sep 2018 20:06:27 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7349 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-food-health/fat-conundrum <p>Butter or margarine? Olive oil or canola oil? Low fat diets or high fat diets? You would think that after literally thousands of studies we would have some straight forward answers about the effect of fat on our health. But such is not the case. There is pretty solid evidence that saturated fats raise blood cholesterol. There is also solid evidence that high levels of blood cholesterol are a risk factor for heart disease. But then there is the conundrum. Studies have not been able to show that saturated fats raise the risk of heart disease. How is that to be explained?</p> Fri, 30 Jan 2015 14:36:09 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2233 at /oss /oss/article/science-science-everywhere/making-trans-fat-free-margarine <p>Margarine originally was a cheap butter substitute made by emulsifying beef fat with water or milk. Eventually animal fat was replaced by partially saturated vegetable fats, hardened by the process of hydrogenation, mainly for economic reasons. When saturated fats were linked with increased blood levels of cholesterol, margarine became a quasi-drug, at least until trans fats, byproducts of the hydrogenation process reared their ugly heads.</p> Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:25:18 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1632 at /oss