by Stephen Byrnes,
ND, RNCP
One of the most healthy
whole foods you can include in your diet is butter.
"What?!" I can hear many of you saying,
"Isn't butter bad for you? I thought margarine
and spreads were better because they're low in saturated fat and cholesterol?"
Be
not deceived folks!
Butter is truly better than margarine or other vegetable
spreads. Despite unjustified warnings about saturated fat from well-meaning,
but misinformed, nutritionists,
the list of butter's benefits is impressive indeed:
Vitamins
Butter is a rich source of easily absorbed vitamin
A, needed for a wide range of functions in the body, from maintaining
good vision, to keeping the endocrine system in top shape. Butter also
contains all the other fat-soluble vitamins (E, K, and D).
Minerals
Butter is rich in
trace minerals, especially selenium, a powerful antioxidant.
Ounce for ounce, butter has more selenium per gram than either whole wheat
or garlic. Butter also supplies iodine, needed by the thyroid gland (as
well as vitamin A, also needed by the thyroid gland).
Fatty Acids
Butter has appreciable amounts of
butyric acid, used by the colon as an energy source. This fatty
acid is also a known anti-carcinogen.
Lauric acid, a medium chain fatty acid, is a potent antimicrobial and
antifungal substance.
Butter also contains conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)
which gives excellent protection against cancer. Range-fed cows produce
especially high levels of CLA as opposed to "stall fed" cattle.
It pays, then,
to get your butter from a cow that has been fed properly.
Butter also has small, but equal, amounts of omega
3 and 6 fatty acids, the so-called essential fatty acids.
Glycospingolipids
These are a special category of fatty acids that protect
against gastrointestinal infections, especially in the very
young and the elderly. Children, therefore, should not drink skim or low
fat milk. Those that do have higher rates of diarrhea than those that
drink whole milk.
Cholesterol
Despite all of the misinformation you may have heard,
cholesterol is needed to maintain intestinal health, but is also needed
for brain and nervous system development in the young. Again,
this emphasizes the need for cholesterol-rich foods for children. Human
breast milk is extremely high in saturated fat and cholesterol.
Standing in direct opposition to all of these healthful
qualities stands margarine and assorted "vegetable oil spreads."
While these may be cheaper, you'd never eat them again if you knew how
they were made.
All margarines are made from assorted vegetable oils
that have been heated to extremely high temperatures. This insures that
the oils will become rancid. After that, a nickel catalyst is added, along
with hydrogen atoms, to solidify it. Nickel is a toxic heavy metal and
amounts always remain in the finished product. Finally, deodorants and
colorings are added to remove margarine's horrible smell (from the rancid
oils) and unappetizing grey color.
And if that is not enough, in the solidification process,
harmful trans-fatty acids are created
which are carcinogenic and mutagenic. What would you rather
have: a real food with an abundance of healthful qualities or a stick
of carcinogenic, bleached, and deodorized slop?
Some of you might be watching your weight and be rather
hesitant to add butter into your diet. Have no fear. About 15% of the
fatty acids in butter are of the short and medium chain variety which
are NOT stored as fat in the body,
but are used by the vital organs
for energy.
When looking for good quality butter, raw
and cultured is best. This might be hard to find, however.
Organic butter is your next best thing, with store-bought butter being
at the bottom. Remember what we've said about commercially-raised cows;
its worth a few extra cents to get high quality butter for you and your
family.
A brand of butter available in many markets is Anchor,
imported from New Zealand. In this country, all cattle are grass-fed,
thus insuring a high nutrient content of their milk, butter, and meat.
For more information on how to obtain quality dairy
products, including Anchor Butter, check out the following web pages:
http://www.realmilk.com and http://www.westonaprice.org