Nourished Magazine :: Wisdom to thrive by

If there was a show down between butter and new fangled margarine, butter would win hands down. So long as the competition judged the following things:

• taste - let’s face it margarine tastes pretty horrible, no matter how it’s packaged.
• health - while the trumped up charges against butter and other animal fats haven’t been publically cleared, science is proving the worth of this old fashioned staple for actually preventing heart disease and cancer, not to mention infertility.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a 1993 Harvard Medical Study. Margarine increases the risk of cancers, decreases immune response and decreases insulin response.

• ecolocial sustainability - the amount of land needed, pesticides used on the corn, sunflower or canola crops and chemical solvents used to extract the oil (which are still in the marg incidentally) makes margarine look pretty bad as an eco food - or non-food rather.

If the battle was fought on the field of the mega capitalist and they were judged on how much money they make, Margarine would win hands down! Margarine was probably one of the most important inventions which turned around the North American economy after the second world war. Sally Fallon and Mary Enig put it so well.

“When the fabricated food folks and apologists for the corporate farm realized that they couldn’t block America’s growing interest in diet and nutrition, a movement that would ultimately put an end to America’s biggest and most monopolistic industries, they infiltrated the movement and put a few sinister twists on information going out to the public. Item number one in the disinformation campaign was the assertion that naturally saturated fats from animal sources are the root cause of the current heart disease and cancer plague. Butter bore the brunt of the attack, and was accused of terrible crimes. The Diet Dictocrats told us that it was better to switch to polyunsaturated margarine and most Americans did. Butter all but disappeared from our tables, shunned as a miscreant.”

Butter contains some of the most important nutrients for the human body. Some you can not find in any other non-animal fat source, so listen up vegetarians.

• Fat Soluble Vitamins A & D - during the last 20 years the Vitamin A row has been raging amongst nutritionists. The short version of this saga is as follows: Vitamin A is only available in the fat of animals. Provitamin A or carotenes are found in coloured vegetables, and while they are very useful anitoxidants, they are not Vitamin A. They do not readily become Vitamin A in the body UNLESS animal fats are present when they are digested and even then the conversion rate is quite low. Vitamin D can be made by the body from sunlight but questions have been raised regarding the consumption of [tag]trans fats[/tag] or hydrogenated oils such as good old margarine and the interference of this conversion. I wonder too about the high incidence of skin cancer among western people and the consumption of vegetable oil.
• Activator X - a nutrient that has not been studied enough. Most probably more of a function of many nutrients, Weston Price’s Activator X is said to help the body absorb minerals. (how many mineral supplements have you taken and seen no difference) Activator X is only found in the fat of animals who have grazed on fast growing green grass.
• Wulzen Factor - called the ‘antistiffness’ factor, this compound protects the joints from calcifation, hardening of the arteries, cataracts and calcification of the pineal gland. Calves fed pasteurized milk or skim milk develop joint stiffness and do not thrive. Pasteurisation destroys the Wulzen factor - it is only found in Raw butter.
• Arachadonic Acid - a polyunsaturate fat found only in animal fat “plays a role in the function of the brain, is a vital component of the cell membranes and is a precursor to important prostaglandins” (ever met a vegan with red inflamed skin? I have)
• Butyric Acid - protective agains colorectal cancers and various inflammatory bowel diseases, nourishes the cells of the small and large intestine.
• Short and Medium Chained Fatty Acids - have antimicrobial, antitumor and immune system supporting properies. These fats absorbed directly from the small intestine to the liver, where they can be used for quick. Quicker than sugar with no crash. Lauric Acid, one of these fats, can be also found in coconut oil and is very useful in dealing with candida.
• Trace Minerals - manganese, zinc, chromium and iodine - to prevent goiter.

Butter has been used by humans for thousands of years. Margarine is a new and scary addition to our diet.

Of course butter that comes from grass fed cows and not mistreated animals fed on agricultural waste, out of date confectionary or parts of other animals is recommended. And RAW butter has the best nutritional profile by far. If you live in Sydney, Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast, Gympie Butter is your best source. Otherwise, set up a herd share in your local area.

If you can get your hands on raw cream, you can make your own butter, following this recipe. Of course, raw cream rarely makes it to the butter stage in our house, it usually ends up as home made ice cream.

Information for this article was found in Sally Fallon’s book, Nourishing Traditions.

About the Author...

Joanne Hay, Editor of Nourished Magazine, Chief Nourisher and Mother of three is very grateful to live in Byron Bay and be able to share all she has learned about Nourishment. She has trained as an Acupuncturist (unfinished), Kinesiologist (finished) and parent (never finished). She serves the Weston A Price Foundation as a chapter leader. She loves sauerkraut, kangaroo tail stew, home made ice cream, her husband Wes and her kids Isaiah, Brynn and Ronin (in no particular order…well maybe ice cream first).