Do you prefer margarine or butter? Personally, I think of them both as superfluous fat and can do without both. I recommend people give most dairy products a big miss anyway, but there is no way I would suggest substituting margarine for butter. So, if you must have one of these fat sources, here’s something to think about.
First, I would recommend that you cut back to a very small amount and see after a while if maybe you can actually live without it afterall. Second, don’t choose margarine! Why would you want to consume the outcome of someone’s chemistry experiments? Margarine is synthetic food and you are better off without it. To help you understand why this is good advice, take a look below.
The following was sent to me in an email and appears to have originated from L. Eugene Arnold, M.Ed., M.D.; a Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Ohio State University. Here’s what Dr. Arnold writes:
Do you know the difference between margarine and butter?
Both have the same amount of calories.
Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.
Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!
For most people, butter tastes better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods. (The best flavor claim margarine can make in ads is that it tastes the same as butter.)
Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.And now, for Margarine
- Very high in trans fatty acids.
- Triple risk of coronary heart disease.
- Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol)
- Lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol).
- Increases the risk of cancers by up to five fold.
- Lowers quality of breast milk.
- Decreases immune response.
- Decreases insulin response.
And here is the part that is very interesting! Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC. This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).
You can try this yourself: purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things: no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something) It does not rot or smell differently. Nothing will grow on it – not even those teeny weeny microorganisms will find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?
Additional info: Children who eat butter or drink whole milk with butterfat have better resistance to infection.
P.S. This was not sponsored by the dairy industry.
Allan Spreen, M.D., when asked to comment on the material above said it is "Absolutely true. The guy’s read my book. In it, I call margarine ‘plastic butter.’ It’s very, very bad stuff."
The book that Dr. Spreen refers to is his Nutritionally Incorrect: Why the American Diet is Dangerous and How to Defend Yourself (Woodland Publishing).
So, I’m not promoting any dairy product here, and if I won’t use the real stuff, do you think I prefer plastic butter? No thanks.
I was thinking about the known link between Premarin, widely prescribed source of estrogen, and dementia and then noticed a reminder in an email about the role played by a common herb in the treatment of one form of dementia known as Alzheimer’s disease. It is a use for the herb that should be much more widely known.
The herb’s benefits were documented in a study published last year as: Curcumin Inhibits Formation of Amyloid Oligomers and Fibrils and Binds Plaques and Reduces Amyloid in Vivo, Journal of Biological Chemistry, published online ahead of print 12/7/04, jbc.org. Yes, that’s the herb, good old curcumin, which so many people have in their kitchen cupboards yet have no idea how much good it can do for them.
The research described in the above study was performed at UCLA using mice. Induced amyloid plaque in their brains was attacked by the curcumin and diminished, along with associated fibroid tangles. This resulted in improvement in the cognitive and problem-solving capabilities of the subject mice. The summary stated in part: "Hence, curcumin directly binds small ss-amyloid species to block aggregation and fibril formation in vitro and in vivo. These data suggest that low dose curcumin effectively disaggregates as well as prevents fibril and oligmer formation".
Whilst the findings provide support for curcumin’s use in clinical trials with humans to assess its possible role in preventing or treating Alzheimer’s disease, such studies have not been conducted due to the absence of ultimate financial gain, since curcumin cannot be patented. This basic problem applies to many herbs and other natural therapies and while there are some small signs of improvement in this area, there is a long way to go given the entrenched self-interest of both the pharmaceutical industry and the orthodox medical profession.
However, curcumin supplements are widely available through health food stores. If you decide to use them yourself, just be aware that large doses cause ulcers in some users. Curcumin has also been shown to lower cholesterol by stimulating the liver to discharge bile, which is fine for most people, but this can be a problem for anyone with an obstruction of the biliary tract.
The FDA has notified health care professionals about a serious risk to people with HIV infection if treated for psoriasis with Amevive (alefacept). Many people live with the HIV infection. I consider this information should therefore be made more widely available to consumers.
It is simply far too easy for prescribers to miss this manufacturer and FDA provided information or to forget at the critical time of prescribing. It makes more sense for this information to be generally available within the community so that people who are HIV positive can be informed so they can responsibly help ensure their own safety.
The details of the FDA alert are provided below.
Amevive (alefacept)
Audience: Dermatologists and other healthcare professionals
[Posted 11/10/2005] Biogen Idec and FDA notified healthcare professionals of revisions to CONTRAINDICATIONS section of the prescribing information for Amevive, indicated for the treatment of adult patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy. Amevive should not be administered to patients infected with HIV. Amevive reduces CD4+ T lymphocyte counts, which might accelerate disease progression or increase complications of disease in these patients. In addition, other sections of the product labeling were revised to reflect additional safety information.
If you are HIV positive and have psoriasis then do remember this information. If you know someone to whom this information may apply then please pass it on. And of course, if you are HIV positive and are being treated with Amevive you should contact your prescriber as soon as you can.
The FDA recently notified changes to details related to many drugs. Among them was Premarin (conjugated estrogens) in both injection and vaginal cream forms. Many of these details are sufficiently serious for anyone prescribed Premarin to consider alternatives.
They now have the following.
BOXED WARNING
The Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS), a sub-study of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), reported increased risk of developing probable dementia in postmenopausal women 65 years of age or older during 5.2 years of treatment with conjugated estrogens alone and during 4 years of treatment with conjugated estrogens combined with medroxyprogesterone acetate, relative to placebo. It is unknown whether this finding applies to younger postmenopausal women.WARNINGS
Cardiovascular Disorders
Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke
In the estrogen alone sub-study of the WHI study, an increased risk of stroke was observed in women receiving Premarin (0.625 mg conjugated estrogens) per day compared to women receiving placebo (44 vs. 32 per 10,000 women-years). The increase in risk was observed in year one and persisted.Venous Thromboembolism (VTE)
In the estrogen alone sub-study of the WHI study, an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis was observed in women receiving Premarin compared to placebo (21 vs. 15 per 10,000 women-years). The increase in VTE risk was observed during the first year.Dementia
In the estrogen alone sub-study, after an average follow-up of 5.2 years, 28 women in the estrogen alone group and 19 women in the placebo group were diagnosed with probable dementia.In the estrogen plus progestin sub-study, after an average follow-up of 4 years, 40 women in the estrogen plus progestin group and 21 women in the placebo group were diagnosed with probable dementia.
PRECAUTIONS
Geriatric UseADVERSE REACTIONS
Genitourinary System
Vaginal Candidiasis
Ovarian Cancer
Endometrial Hyperplasia
Endometrial Cancer
Breasts
Breast Cancer
Cardiovascular
Deep and Superficial Venous Thrombosis
Thrombophlebitis
Miscellaneous
Urticaria
Angioedema
Increased TriglyceridesAdditionally related to the vaginal cream form of Premarin
Genitourinary System
Change in Vaginal Bleeding Pattern
Increase in Size of Uterine Leiomyomata
The evident speed with which serious adverse side effects develop is a cause of major concern to me. The range and type of adverse reactions are also troubling. Frankly, anything known to be linked to developing dementia has to be avoided.
Almost half of parents find it difficult to work out which foods are healthy for their children, according to a UK survey at the end of October. As concern continues to grow about Britain’s childhood obesity epidemic, campaigners said parents needed to set a good example for their children.
However, a poll of almost 800 parents with children under 15 found that 45% thought it was difficult to establish which foods were best for their offspring. Let’s hope some initiative is found and acted upon to rectify this problem as quickly as possible.
The latest survey, by the charity Developing Patient Partnerships (DPP), found that even when parents were able to make healthy choices for their children nearly two-thirds (65%) struggled to motivate them to eat healthily. They also found that 73% believed advertising and marketing of unhealthy snacks and drinks made it even more difficult to encourage children to eat a healthy diet. Can there be any surprises there?
Another poll by DPP of more than 1,000 children aged seven to 16 found that 70% said they would be more likely to eat healthily if their parents did. More than two-thirds (68%) of parents said they would eat more healthily if it encouraged their children to do so. Maybe they should just talk more!
A reported 16% of youngsters ate the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables every day, but I would suspect the real figure is much lower.
There is no doubt that parents, schools, health professionals, the media, food manufacturers and the Government all have an important role to play in reducing the risk to children’s lives from obesity. Those who mistakenly take the attitude that "it’s not my problem" should realize that obesity places large demands on the health sector, increasing expenditure there that could be better placed to increase the whole community’s standard of living.
The DPP and the National Obesity Forum at least have taken some action. They recently launched the Get Sussed, Get Healthy Family Challenge to encourage parents to take a leading role in setting a good example for children.
In the meantime the UK Government is working on a public health white paper which is expected to include proposals to tackle obesity in both adults and children. Bring it on.