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Richard Cristol
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Margarine Spreads Are In Sync With New Dietary Guidelines

Contribute Essential Nutrients to Diet

Washington, D.C. (January 11, 2005) - Soft, squeeze, spray. All of these margarine products are in sync with recommendations expected in the forthcoming 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. And for the first time, liquid oils and no trans fat soft margarine spreads have been elevated in importance in that they "help meet essential fatty acid needs and also contribute toward Vitamin E needs" says the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report. "In the past, added fats, even those that are the healthier unsaturated fats, had been relegated to 'use as little as possible,' " says Richard Cristol, president of the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers.

In keeping with the evolving science - as do the Guidelines, which are updated every five years - margarine manufacturers continue to offer a wide array of products. Although margarine products have traditionally had no cholesterol and are low in saturated fat, many now contain no trans fat. The Guidelines are expected to stress the reduction of trans fat along with a continued focus on lowering saturated fat and cholesterol intake.

"Margarine manufacturers have been leaders in the food industry in removing trans fats from their products and will continue to innovate to meet the health, taste and convenience requirements of consumers," Cristol notes.

Compared to butter, margarine has always been lower in saturated fat. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a serving of margarine or a lower calorie margarine spread has 2 grams or less of saturated fat per serving compared to 7 grams in butter (see http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/transfat.html). And, unlike butter, which contains 30 milligrams of cholesterol per serving, margarine and margarine spreads have no cholesterol because they are made with vegetable oil, a good source of vitamin E.

Ever since benchmark family-based research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center compared the effects of margarine versus butter consumption on blood cholesterol, the public has known that substituting soft margarine for butter can actually help lower cholesterol, in some cases as much as cholesterol-reducing medications. ¹

"As consumers begin to read the media reports about the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, they can take comfort in the knowledge that because of recent improvements in reducing or eliminating trans fat, margarine products are more healthful than ever," says Cristol.

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¹ Reference: Denke, M., Adams-Huet, B., Nguyen, A. Individual Cholesterol Variation in Response to a Margarine- or Butter-Based Diet. Journal of the American Medical Association. December 6, 2000. Vol. 284. No. 21.2740-2747.