Spread instead of butter: the pros and cons

Spread instead of butter: the pros and cons

Recently, very popular inAs a replacement for butter and margarine, spreads have begun to be used - products containing animal and vegetable fats, but with less cholesterol.

Spread
Spreads are often considered to be something similar tobutter on the content and form, but they differ from both butter and margarine. Unlike the last, spread can be eaten without preliminary treatment, for example, simply spreading on bread. Strictly speaking, the original translation of the word "spread" from English means "smearing". Comparing spreads with traditional butter, it is possible to distinguish both positive and negative differences.

Pros of spreads

To one of the most important pluses of spreads, you cancarry a lower content of cholesterol. Spread as a food product appeared due to the development of dietology and was initially sold in pharmacies as a useful substitute for butter. In addition, the vegetable oils contained in the spreads are a useful source of vitamins and microelements. An important advantage of spreads is that they can fry vegetables and meat. Frying with butter is harmful, because with strong heating, animal proteins are folded and, subsequently, have a negative effect on the walls of human vessels. Since the spreads contain vegetable oils (olive, sunflower, palm), frying on them does not have such an effect on the human body. Spreads can be used successfully when cooking as a substitute for margarine. Margarine, which is used for baking, may not give the most pleasant, slightly bitter taste, while the spread with a higher content of animal fats will make the dough more tasty. The last important advantage of spreads is their lower cost, compared to conventional butter. Since vegetable oils are used in the production of spreads, the production process is much cheaper, which affects the cost of production.

The spreads of spreads

Spreads have their own important disadvantages, whichworth knowing. The constant use of food spreads provokes heart disease and vessel walls due to the presence of artificial trans fats. This concerns, in the first stage, products that have sunflower and olive oil in the composition. Spreads of Asian origin with coconut and palm oils are not sources of trans fats and therefore can be applied continuously. Essential arguments against can be that manufacturers often unfairly approach the composition of the product and use artificial analogues of animal (milk) fat in the production process.