What to Use When for Cooking:
When you cook, it' s not really best to cook with either margarine or butter. Butter is loaded with saturated fat, which can be bad for your heart and raise your cholesterol. Most margarines, on the other hand, have some saturated fat plus trans-fatty acids, which can also be bad for you. Both of these fats have their risks.
If you must use one or the other, some margarines may be better than butter.
Some guidelines for cooking are:
- Use olive or canola oil instead of butter or margarine.
- Choose soft margarine (tub or liquid) over harder stick forms.
- Choose margarines with liquid vegetable oil as the first ingredient.
- Even better, choose "light" margarines that list water as the first ingredient. These are even lower in saturated fat.
- If you have high cholesterol, talk with your doctor about using margarines made from plant sterols or stanols. These are made from soybean and pine tree oils, and they can help lower your LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol). But these margarines are not yet recommended for children, pregnant women, and people who do not have high cholesterol.
What Not to Use When Cooking:
You should NOT use:
- Margarine, shortening, and cooking oils that have more than 2 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon (read the nutrition information labels).
- Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats (read the ingredients labels). These are high in saturated fats and trans-fatty acids.
- Shortening or other fats made from animal sources, such as lard.
- Reviewed last on: 12/13/2008
- Larry A. Weinrauch MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Cardiovascular Disease and Clinical Outcomes Research, Watertown, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
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