Margarine was originally developed and marketed as a butter substitute, but today it is considered a food in its own right. A scarcity of animal fat (a principal ingredient of butter) in France in the late 1860s prompted the government of Napoleon III (1808-1973) to offer a prize for the best "cheap butter." A French chemist, Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès, conducted a series of experiments and patented his result in 1869. The product consisted of liquid beef tallow, milk, water, and chopped cow's udder, churned into solid form. Mège-Mouriès called his invention oleomargarine: from oleo, the French word for beef fat, and the Greek word margarites, "pearl," because of the product's pearly white color. It was also marketed as "butterine."
From the time margarine was first produced commercially in 1873, the dairy industry bitterly opposed it. Excise taxes were imposed on margarine in the United States, and the sale of yellow margarine was prohibited. Margarine manufacturers fought for public acceptance with massive research on ways to improve their product. Nutritional content was boosted by the addition of vitamins A and B, and margarine was made more spreadable and creamy. To cut production costs, American manufacturers developed ways to make margarine from vegetable oils rather than animal fats in the 1930s. Cottonseed, soybean, and corn farmers dropped their support of restrictive legislation; as taxes disappeared, margarine became much cheaper than butter and secured its place as a middle-class food.
Starting in the 1960s, new research suggested that the polyunsaturated fats used in margarine were far healthier to consume than the saturated fats in butter. This further boosted margarine sales and popularity, so that by 1993, Americans were eating twice as much margarine as butter. In the mid-1990s, though, more sophisticated research raised concerns about the fat content of margarine as well-specifically, the trans fats that are created by hydrogenation. During the hydrogenation process, hydrogen molecules are added to liquid oils, such as corn and soybean oils, to make them more solid and stable. This gives margarine a texture and flavor more like butter. However, the process also rearranges some fat molecules to an unnatural, or "trans," position. Newer studies have found that trans fats, like saturated fats, can raise LDL cholesterol-the "bad" kind. Dietitians now recommend limiting both butter and hydrogenated margarine.
The margarine industry has responded to health concerns by introducing an array of less hydrogenated products-including tub, squeeze, and spray margarine-as well as lower fat sticks. Today production of vegetable oil for export and use in margarine manufacturing is an important aspect of the economy of many developing countries.
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