Which should you use — margarine or butter? Well... neither is
ideal, because butter is loaded with saturated fat, and almost
all margarines have some saturated fat and trans-fatty acids.
However, if you must use one or the other, some margarines may
be better than butter. Here are some guidelines: - Use olive or
canola oil instead of butter or margarine. - Choose soft
margarine (tub or liquid) over harder stick forms. - Choose
margarines with liquid vegetable oil as the first ingredient. -
Even better, choose "light" margarines that list water as the
first ingredient, because these are even lower in saturated fat.
- If you have high cholesterol, talk to your doctor about using
margarines made from plant sterols or stanols. These substances,
made from soybean and pine tree oils, can help lower your LDL
cholesterol by as much as 6 - 15%. The AHA recommends further
study for children, pregnant women, and those without high
cholesterol, however. - Margarines, shortening, and cooking oils
that have more than 2 gr