Recently, spreads have become very popular as a substitute for butter and margarine - products that contain animal and vegetable fats, but differ in less cholesterol.
Spreads are quite often thought of as being similar in content and form to butter, however they differ from both butter and margarine. Unlike the latter, the spread can be eaten without pretreatment, for example, simply spreading on bread. As a matter of fact, the original translation of the word "spread" from English means "smearing". Comparing spreads with traditional butter, there are both positive and negative differences.
Pros of spreads
One of the most important advantages of spreads is the lower cholesterol content. Spread as a food product appeared precisely due to the development of dietetics 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 minerals.
An important advantage of spreads is that they can be used to roast vegetables and meat. Frying in butter is harmful, since with strong heating, proteins of animal origin curl up and, subsequently, have a negative effect on the walls of human blood vessels. Since the spreads contain vegetable oils (olive, sunflower, palm), frying them does not have such an effect on the human body.
Spreads can be successfully used in cooking as a substitute for margarine. Margarine, which is used in baked goods, may not give the most pleasant, slightly bitter taste, while a spread with a higher animal fat content will make the dough tastier.
The last important advantage of spreads is their lower cost compared to regular butter. Since vegetable oils are used in the manufacture of spreads, the production process becomes much cheaper, which also affects the cost of production.
Cons of spreads
Spreads have their own important drawbacks that you should be aware of. The constant consumption of spreads in food provokes diseases of the heart and walls of blood vessels due to the presence of artificial trans fats. This applies, first of all, to products containing sunflower and olive oil. Asian spreads with coconut and palm oils are not sources of trans fat and can therefore be used continuously.
Significant arguments "against" can be that manufacturers often unfairly approach the composition of the product and use artificial analogs of animal (milk) fat in the production process.
