Butter, Margarine, Olive oil

Butter, margarine and olive oil are commonly used as table spread and condiment all over the world. With the concern of health, researches showed that butter and margarine bring more health problem. Olive oil is taking the increasing market share.

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It contains high choloestrol and saturated fat.

Margarine can be made from a wide variety of animal or vegetable fats, and is often mixed with skimmed milk, salt, and emulsifiers.Margarine contains no cholestrol and low levels of saturated fat. But it contents high proportion of trans fats. Research shows a strong link between heart attacks or earlier death and consumption of high amounts of trans fat. Stick margarine contains the most trans fat.

Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained from the olive. It is regarded as a healthy dietary oil because of its high content of monounsaturated fat and polyphenols.

An unsaturated fat is a fat or fatty acid in which there is one or more double bond in the fatty acid chain. A fat molecule is monounsaturated if it contains one double bond, and polyunsaturated if it contains more than one double bond. Where double bonds are formed, hydrogen atoms are eliminated, which may result in high chance of rancidity. A saturated fat is "saturated" with hydrogen atoms. Hydrogenating unsaturated fat can raise the melting point and reduce the rancidity. But the process of hydrogenation results in a propotion of changed fat becoming trans fat.