Long vilified butter is making a comeback. Butter consumption in the US has reached its 40-year peak, according to new data from the dairy industry. The butter boom, at least in part, has been attributed to a shift in consumer preferences away from processed foods and back toward natural foods. It has also helped that USDA began the process of banning trans fats from the American food supply last fall. During the past decade, Americans have increased their butter intake by 25 percent—but its really taken off over the past five years. Butter consumption has now reached 5.6 pounds per capita, compared to 4.1 pounds in 1997. While butter hit its 40-year high, margarine fell to its 70-year low. Even Unilever Foods (maker of Country Crock margarine) just added real butter to Rama, their most popular spread in Germany, in order to rescue dwindling sales. After decades of believing the myth that butter clogs arteries and causes heart attacks, people are now beginning to realize that partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, margarine, and shortening. So-called heart healthy spreads, are the culprits—not wholesome saturated fats like butter. The now discredited lipid hypothesis is thankfully going the way of bloodletting and lobotomies. Its time to bury the myth that butter is bad for you—for good. FDA November 7, 2013 Journal Sentinel December 1, 2013 Bloomberg January 17, 2014 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition January 2010
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 20:22:06 +0000
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