How are margarine and solid vegetable fats made? Are they bad for health?

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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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16 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Fat molecules are kinda like drinking straws. Saturated fats (like butter) are solid because the straw isn’t bent/kinked and can pack together closely with a bunch of other straws. Unsaturated fats (like vegetable oils) are liquid because the end is bent/kinked so they can’t pack together tightly anymore. BUT, you can straighten out the bend so that they fit tightly together again (liquid oil is “hydrogenated” to a solid margarine).

However, the straight, saturated form can initiate a chain reaction that triggers your liver to produce “bad” cholesterol, which gunks up your blood vessels and causes heart disease.

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