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In the
1970s, I was instructed to swap from butter to margarine. Fortunately, I did
not like the taste of margarine and, over the years, the more research I conducted
on the topic the more I realised that we were being lead astray and even lied
to about this. Today, when I ask any of my audiences, sometimes in the
hundreds, “Who thinks margarine is better for you than butter?” I rarely get a
positive response. It seems most people already know that margarine is a
dangerous substitute.
It
appears that there is no scientific evidence that margarine is healthier than
butter. In fact, evidence suggests the exact opposite is true. This is summed
up first of all in one of my earlier articles that showed saturated fat is not
the demon it is made out to be and may even be associated with reduced heart attack (another myth
shattered). At least that is what the biggest and best studies show.
Furthermore, we consume many more Omega 6 (vegetable) oils today than our
ancestors did and this is having a negative impact on our health. These oils
are not just in our margarine but also hidden in most of our food. We ate
margarine for 50 years thinking it was made up of so-called “good fats” only to
find out it was laden with the deadliest form of fat: trans fats. Finally,
there is emerging evidence that margarine may not be good for our health, with
or without trans fats, and is nowhere near a natural food; the push to sell
more margarine has come from organisations like the Heart Foundations around
the world and branches of margarine companies with strong vested interests in promoting
margarine sales.
I
think one of the best things to have happened to the Australian cuisine is
Master Chef. It has inspired a whole generation to go back to the kitchen and
start cooking again. It has also encouraged the increased use of butter over
vegetable oils, something the Heart Foundation and the margarine manufacturers
did not like so they had to come up with campaigns to sway people back to
margarine. Interestingly one of the foundation’s ploys was to create, through a
public relations company, a group called “Mums United” which pretends to be a
grassroots mothers campaign against evil butter. According to David Gillespe
(Sweet Poison) and the “duck test” of inductive reasoning, “It walks like a
margarine advertisement and quacks like a margarine advertisement, so guess
what it I think it is?” And the margarine companies fund it! Some of the
group’s tactics have included offering financial support to people who pledged
not to eat butter. So much for it being a grassroots organisation. It seems
that margarine interests have taken some of the old tactics taught to us by the
tobacco industry and big drug companies.
I want
to make it very clear that I have no vested interests in anything other than
people’s health and the truth.
Various
heart associations around the world recommend increasing Omega 6 (vegetable)
oil consumption and reducing saturated fats, based on flawed studies that have
been seriously questioned due to data manipulation. This includes the omission
of relevant trials with unfavourable outcomes—that is, leaving out any negative
studies 1,2,3 and including studies that combine both Omega 3 (fish
oils, which are good for you) and Omega 6 consumption together under the title
of “polyunsaturated fats.” The associations even included poorly done studies
as long as the studies showed the desired results. This type of publication
bias is well known in the research literature particularly with big drug companies
trying to show that their drugs work better than they really do.
Margarine
is far from being a natural product—well, as much as you can claim that plastic
is natural. The major components of margarine are “vegetable” oils, obtained
from foods such as sunflower seeds, rapeseed, or potentially genetically
modified canola and soya beans. These oils are usually extracted using the
application of pressure, heat and possibly solvents and then treated with
sodium hydroxide to “neutralise” certain fats in the oil. It is then bleached,
filtered and steam-treated to produce what is essentially a colourless,
flavourless murky looking liquid. The liquid is converted into a solid at room
temperature through esterifcation, which uses high temperature and pressure, along
with enzymes or acids, to harden the oil—this is also called hydrogenation.
Hydrogenation produces trans fats that are strongly linked with heart disease,
cancer and other chronic illnesses. The final product is coloured and flavoured
with various agents to make it feel and look like butter. Then finally
ingredients like plant sterols and stanols and alpha linolenic acid is added to
make it appear healthy. The finished product is not natural or healthy.
Plant
stanols and sterols are added to reduce cholesterol. However, overwhelming
evidence now shows cholesterol is just a poor indicator of heart attack, not
the cause 4. It is just the warning sign or, if I can use an
analogy, like a fire alarm in your home, it is not the problem itself, but a
warning about the problem. You can get plenty of stanol and sterols in nuts,
beans and seeds, which are not only natural but also full of other healthful
benefits including vitamins, antioxidants, minerals and so much more and reduce
all forms chronic illness. Margarine manufacturers can trumpet the presence of
“heart-healthy” Omega 3 fats on the label, however they are putting plant-based
Omega 3 fats (alpha linolenic acid) that do not act like Omega 3 from fish
sources. They still have to be converted in our body to fish-like Omega 3s. It
is also questionable whether they will be oxidised or not and therefore of any
value. Adding a nutrient to toxic food does not make it healthy. Do you really
believe the advertising?
Margarine
is a major source of trans fatty acids, the intake of which has risen since the
early 20th century. Trans fatty acids are synthetic fats produced as a
byproduct of the hydrogenation of liquid vegetable oils, making them into solid
margarine. An abundance of data indicates that consumption of trans fatty acids
increases the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), cancer, diabetes and other
chronic illnesses. Margarine companies are now obliged to list the amount of
trans fats on the side of the packet. Until recently however, margarine has
been the single biggest source of these very toxic fats.
In a
study of women, long-term margarine and trans fat consumption was associated
with a 67% increased risk of heart disease 5. The decrease in intake
of trans fatty acids in Denmark saw a 50% reduction in the number of deaths
from ischemic heart disease 6. A recent study found that trans fatty
acids promote cardiovascular disease by triggering inflammatory processes in
the cells lining blood vessels 7. Increased intake of trans fatty
acids has also been linked with an increase in the risk of colorectal tumours
by about 86% 8. The potentially damaging effects of trans fats may
also be passed from a mother to her child during breast feeding and can lead to
an increase in cardiac insulin resistance when the kids become adults 9.
During
the past 150 years, the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of agribusiness
with processed foods, grain-fattened livestock, and hydrogenation of vegetable
fats have considerably reduced the available content of Omega 3 fatty acids and
increased that of Omega 6 fatty acids. While Omega 6 and 3 oils are considered
essential fatty acids, the research is now showing that it is important to get
the correct balance of the fats. An imbalance leads to various metabolic
diseases. Western diets are now deficient in Omega 3 fatty acids and are laden
with excessive amounts of Omega 6 fatty acids compared with the diet on which
human beings evolved and their genetic patterns were established. Our diets now
have 14 to 20 times more Omega 6 (vegetable oil) than Omega 3 fatty acids. This
imbalance is now linked with diseases such as heart attack, stroke, cancer,
obesity, insulin resistance, asthma, arthritis, depression, ADHD, Alzheimer’s
disease and even premature ageing. The ideal balance is less than 4:1 or even
1:1 Omega 6 and 3, respectively.
Omega
6 oils such as corn, safflower, cottonseed, sunflower, and soya are now in nearly
all our foods. Apart from the obvious consumption of vegetable oils and
margarine you buy in the supermarket—which I hope you are now not going to
buy—Omega 6 oils are hidden in most foods. You will find vegetable oils in just
about every processed and semi-processed food including bread, cakes, and
breakfast cereals and in lots of the plant-based drinks like almond or soya
milk the main ingredient is often vegetable oil. All the takeaway foods, frozen
and packaged dinners have Omega 6 oils. Even the “new” Mediterranean diet is
laden with Omega 6 oils. When you buy olives, pesto sauce, sundried tomatoes or
anything soaking in oil it is now vegetable oil in which it is soaked, not
olive oil because vegetable oil is cheaper, unless you go to Italy where most
foods are still soaked in olive oil. It is almost impossible to get away from
the excess of Omega 6 oils. Time to read the labels! Factory produced eggs have
20 times more Omega 6 than Omega 3 compared to free-range eggs, which have a
ratio of 1:1. Similarly, grain-fed beef (which I do not recommend you eat) has
around 20:1 Omega 6 to Omega 3 oils because the cows are fed grains rich in
Omega 6 oils. Alpha linolenic acid is found in the grass and is converted into
the important Omega 3 oils by the animals. It is found only in grass-fed
animals. Grass-fed cows are also a lot less stressed and have as a result lower
levels of inflammation.
On the
topic of animals fats, I have highlighted in earlier articles that despite
claims by the Heart Foundation there is no scientific evidence to suggest that
saturated fat through dairy consumption is associated with increased heart attack.
By contrast, in a 16-year prospective study of 1,529 adult Australians,
researchers found a possible beneficial association between intake of full-fat
dairy and cardiovascular mortality 10. Whoops… the Heart Foundation
got it wrong again.
By
contrast, the Framingham study, which followed people for 20 years (a very long
and comprehensive study) and recorded heart attack incidence, found margarine
intake increased coronary heart disease in men 11. The scientists in
their very conservative language wrote, “These data offer modest support to the
hypothesis that margarine intake increases the risk of coronary heart disease.”
Not the opposite. In the second ten-year period of the study, the group eating
the most margarine had 77% more heart attacks than the group eating none.
Studies
that investigated increasing the amount of Omega 6 without a subsequent
increase in animal-based Omega 3 (fish oil) consistently found an increase in
coronary heart disease (CHD) and all-cause mortality. In an early study, published
in 1965, researchers found that people consuming corn oil, a rich source of
Omega 6, had a 4.64 times (over 400%) increased risk for both chronic heart disease
and death from all causes 12. In the conservative language of
scientists, the authors of the study concluded that corn oil is “possibly
harmful.” In another study, in which participants consumed more safflower oil
and a safflower oil polyunsaturated margarine, participants had a 49% increased
risk of death from all causes including a 91% increase from chronic heart
disease and 96% from CVD 13.
In one
study specifically on Omega 6 consumption in more than 9,000 people, the risk
of non-fatal heart attack and death from coronary heart disease was
significantly increased among women consuming the n-6 specific polyunsaturated
fatty acid (PUFA) diet for one year or less 14. Women consuming this
n-6 specific PUFA diet for any duration had non-significant trends to increased
risk of non-fatal heart attack and coronary heart disease and any cardiovascular
event including death and stroke 14. In fact the Lyon Diet Heart
Study found that after follow up of 27 months, non-fatal heart attack and
coronary heart disease death and overall mortality were 73% and 70% lower in
the experimental group who consumed lower Omega 6 oils and replaced vegetable
oils with olive oil. This study also demonstrated that lowering linoleic acid
(Omega 6 vegetable oil) below 50% is not harmful and may even be beneficial,
producing a profound risk reduction in coronary heart disease.
A
recent meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials investigating
polyunsaturated Omega 6 oil consumption (vegetable oils and margarine) found
that there is absolutely no scientific justification for recommending the
increased consumption of Omega 6 oils 2. Or, to quote their
conclusion, “Advice to specifically increase n-6 PUFA intake … is unlikely to
provide the intended benefits, and may actually increase the risks of CHD and
death.” The study found for non-fatal myocardial infarction (heart attack) and
death from coronary heart disease there was an increased risk of 13% for diets
with increased Omega 6. The studies that substituted Omega 6 for saturated
fatty acids without simultaneously increasing Omega 3 oils also produced an
increase in risk of death. It seems the vegetable oils are just as bad as the
trans fats and what we are really lacking are the Omega 3 fish oils.
More research shows
that omega 6 fatty acids (vegetable oils-margarine) have no health benefit and
in fact might be worse for you than saturated fats. This study showed people on
the ‘heart-healthy’ diet were at increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and heart
disease (increases of 70 and 74 per cent respectively).
"Advice to substitute polyunsaturated fats for
saturated fats is a key component of worldwide dietary guidelines for coronary
heart disease risk reduction. However, clinical benefits of the most abundant
polyunsaturated fatty acid, omega 6 linoleic acid, have not been established.
In this cohort, substituting dietary linoleic acid in place of saturated fats
increased the rates of death from all causes, coronary heart disease, and
cardiovascular disease. An updated meta-analysis of linoleic acid intervention
trials showed no evidence of cardiovascular benefit."
The Heart Foundation continues to educate people to
swap to margarine. Why do they continue to do this?
this information is so widespread it is dangerous.
I recently spoke to and AFL footballer who was told not to have butter and to
use margarine by the club dietician.
The study also found that lower cholesterol as a
result of the omega 6 heart healthy diet was also associated with more deaths
not fewer. Cholesterol is not the killer. It is just a symptom of an illness.
Arachidonic
acid is produced in the body from too much Omega 6 and produces chemical
messengers that lead to inflammation in the body called eicosanoids and
cytokines. The increase in linoleic acid (Omega 6) has been shown to increase
the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL cholesterol) 15. There
is nothing wrong with cholesterol until it is oxidised. The evidence from
animal studies also shows that a high linoleic acid diet can promote certain
cancers 16 and other inflammatory diseases. In a study of 203,193
men and women, increased intakes of Omega 6 fatty acid (linoleic acid) doubled
the risk of ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, which has seen a
rapid increase during recent decades. By contrast the highest intakes of Omega
3 were associated with 77% reduction in the risk of the disease 17.
Omega 6 fatty acids are present in the cell membrane of colon cells in the form
of arachidonic acid. This can be metabolised to chemical messengers in the body
called prostaglandin E2, leukotriene B4 and thromboxane A2, all of which are
associated with inflammation. On the other hand, Omega 3 fatty acids, including
docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may prevent
colonic inflammation.
There
is also research showing that too much Omega 6 oil is contributing to premature
ageing. Telomeres, which are in all our cells, are thought to be markers of our
ageing because they reflect cumulative oxidative stress and inflammation. The
shorter they are, the more we have aged. Because the metabolites of Omega 6
promote inflammation, it is believed that an increase in Omega 6 fatty acid
content in our diet decreases the leukocyte telomere length 18,19
and hence speeds up the ageing process.
It is time to rethink our fat
consumption. The research shows that fat in itself is not bad—in fact, it is
essential and the move away from fat has lead to a more obese and sicker
population. What we need to do however is decrease our consumption of processed
oils like margarine and vegetable oils and increase our Omega 3 fish oils along
with Omega 9 oils, including olive oil.
References
1. Ramsden 2009;
2. Ramsden et al. 2010,
3. Ramsden et al. 2011
4. Dingle 2011 The Great Cholesterol Deception
5. Willett et al. 1993
6. Stender and Dyerberg 2004
7. Harvey et al 2008
8. Vinikoor et al. 2010
9. Osso et al. 2008
10. Bonthuis et al. 2010
11. Gillman 1997
12. Rose et al. 1965
13. Woodhill et al. 1978
14. Frantz et al. 1989
15. Tsimikas et al. 1999
16. Welsh 1992
17. Hart 2008
18. Kang 2010;
19. Kiecolt-Glaser 2012
