The Latest Spread on Margarine

For Immediate Release

FDA Publication and Web Site Show
Margarine’s Healthfulness Over Butter

Latest FDA Consumer Magazine Clears Up Confusion
Related to Margarine and Trans Fat

ATLANTA (May 11, 2004) – The latest issue of FDA Consumer Magazine (March-April 2004) highlights the healthfulness of margarine products over butter. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other leading health organizations such as the American Heart Association and the National Cholesterol Education Program recommend soft margarine in place of butter, there has been consumer confusion surrounding margarine’s healthfulness – mainly due to the trans fat issue. According to the FDA Consumer Magazine, “To help sort it out, the agency has created a Web site with helpful background on trans fats and how to use the new labeling to plan a healthful diet.”

The FDA Web site (http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/transfat.html) advises consumers to “Choose vegetable oils (except coconut and palm kernel oils) and soft margarines (liquid, tub, or spray) more often because the amounts of saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol are lower than the amounts in solid shortenings, hard margarines, and animal fats, including butter.” Sample labels (provided on the Web site) show that, when the amount of trans and saturated fat are combined, butter is not heart-healthy compared to soft margarine or even compared to traditional stick margarine. An online pop quiz testing consumer knowledge about which spread is healthiest also reinforces this message. The FDA Web site specifically recommends that consumers, “Look at the highlighted items… Combine the grams (g) of saturated fat and trans fat and look for the lowest combined amount. Also, look for the lowest percent (%) Daily Value for cholesterol. Check all three nutrients to make the best choice for a healthful diet.”

“We are glad to see that the FDA is helping to clear up confusion regarding margarine and trans fat,” noted Richard Cristol, president of the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers (NAMM). “Although margarine is clearly the healthier spread and is recommended by leading health authorities”, he said, “many consumers have become confused during the trans fat debate and have mistakenly returned to butter and increased their intake of saturated fat and cholesterol.”
According to NAMM-sponsored consumer research , many Americans are “flip-floppers,” when it comes to nutrition, especially on the margarine vs. butter issue. Thirty nine percent of consumers who have heard conflicting or confusing messages about margarine have stopped eating margarine and are replacing it with something else. Of those individuals, 42 percent are now eating butter. “This switch is definitely a negative when it comes to heart health and it demonstrates the importance of communicating the latest nutrition findings carefully and clearly,” said Beth Hubrich, a registered dietitian and nutrition communications specialist for NAMM.

A number of studies have evaluated margarine as a whole food (as opposed to its individual components) and confirmed that consumption of soft margarine products results in much healthier blood cholesterol levels than butter. The most recent study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that soft margarine significantly lowered total and LDL cholesterol levels when substituted for butter – in some cases as much as cholesterol-lowering medication.

The margarine industry has responded in recent years to consumer and health professional interest in lowering daily fat consumption levels by decreasing the average fat content of its products by 40 percent. Today's margarine category encompasses a wide variety of products, from tubs to sticks and even sprays and liquid margarines. Margarine products have been reduced in total fat, saturated fat and trans fat over the past two decades, and many soft, squeeze and spray margarine products are trans fat-free.

To access the information provided in the FDA Consumer Magazine, visit http://www.fda.gov/fdac/departs/2004/204_fda.html and http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/transfat.html. For more information about the healthfulness of margarine, including margarine vs. butter research, visit http://www.margarine.org.

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The National Association of Margarine Manufacturers (NAMM) is a non-profit trade association formed in 1936.

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