Why organic, raw butter will benefit your health

Friday, February 25, 2011 by: Shona Botes
Tags: raw butter, health, health news

(NewsTarget) By now, you may be wondering if you read right after seeing the article headline. For many years, people have been brainwashed into thinking that margarine is healthier than natural, organic raw butter when it comes to food preparation.

While butter is a 100% natural food product, margarine is 100% man-made. This is a substance that you would never ever eat again if you knew how it was manufactured, and what it consisted of. All margarines and margarine products are made of vegetable oils which have been heated to extremely high temperatures. This causes the oils in the margarine to become rancid. Once that is done, a nickel catalyst is added to them, along with hydrogen atoms, to ensure that the oils solidify. The really shocking part is that deodorants and colorants are then added to it in order to mask the horrible smell and highly unappetizing grey color of the unfinished product. (By the way, nickel is a highly toxic heavy metal, and no matter what, amounts of it will remain in the finished product.) The final solidification process creates harmful trans-fatty acids, which are highly carcinogenic.

Margarine contains other extremely harmful ingredients such as free radicals, emulsifiers, preservatives, free radicals, artificial flavors, bleach, soy protein isolate (MSG), sterols, and hexane, as well as many other artificial and synthetic ingredients. Hexane in itself should never be consumed, as it is derived from crude oil. Sterols are estrogen compounds which can cause endocrine problems and also have the ability to contribute to sexual inversion in animals. BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene) is used as a preservative in most margarine products. What is really concerning about this ingredient is that it is also linked to symptoms and side effects such as abdominal pain, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. It may also cause liver problems. Being highly combustible, it may also not be a wise idea to consume BHT if you intend spending time near any fires or sources of open flames.

Many people believe that by consuming margarine, they will lower their cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is actually needed by our bodies in order to maintain intestinal health. It also assists with brain and nervous system development in children.

Butter is a lot better for us than margarine because it contains the following ingredients that are needed by our bodies in order to help us function optimally. It contains vitamins A, D, E and K in their natural forms. It contains a category of fatty acids known as glycospingolipids, which help to prevent gastrointestinal infections, especially in children and the elderly. This is why it is important for children to only consume organic, raw full-cream dairy products. Butter also contains selenium as well as iodine which is utilized by the thyroid.

Butter also helps to prevent many diseases and conditions which are major cash cows for big pharma: such as arthritis, cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease (those consuming butter were 50% less likely to develop heart disease as opposed to those who consumed margarine products), thyroid health, asthma, fertility problems and obesity (the CLA and short-and-medium chain fatty acids found in butter also help to prevent weight gain, making it a far better option health-and-taste wise to have on your dinner table).

Sources:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/a...
http://besthealth.com.au/why-butter-is-bette...
http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2009/09/24/what-...

About the author

Shona Botes blogs about green living, budgeting, saving money, natural remedies and humour (which is often combined with the abovementioned topics). Her spare time is spent tending to her organic herb garden, cycling and engaging in photography.
Her blog may be viewed here
Some of her photography work may be viewed here
Other articles written by her may be viewed here