I’m from a country where margarine and solid vegetable fats (shortening and vegetable ghee) are widely produced and consumed, children used to eat slices of bread with margarine outside and TV advertorials were bombarded with margarine commercials.
It’s said that there are only one molecule of difference between plastic and margarine, and no insects won’t settle on margarine when a piece of it are left outside, and solid vegetable fats are harmful for health.
What’s the truth about margarine and solid vegetable fats and the whole margarine vs. butter battle? Are the claims I wrote in the previous paragraph (plastic and no insects) any true? Are solid vegetable fats bad for health?
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Hydrogenation of oils to produce shortening, under most circumstances, produces by-product substances called *trans fats*, which are known to be detrimental to health. The body has no enzyme that can fully degrade a trans fat, and the configuration of the fat readily inserts itself into important cellular membranes. As a result trans fats are strongly implicated in coronary artery disease when consumed.
Unfortunately it’s not possible to remove the trans fat from hydrogenated vegetable oils, or to hydrogenate oils without creating trans fat. You can only substitute non-hydrogenated oils, such as palm oil, that have a similar melting and smoke point. But those oils are safe and not generally harmful to health. Margarine, a butter replacement made from water and vegetable oils, can be safely made from palm and other oils but when made from shortening is likely introducing trans fats into your diet.
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