The heavily industrialized frankenfood known as Smart Balance should more aptly be named Stupid Balance when you examine the ingredients list!
I’ve had it. Everyone has her limits and I’ve reached mine. If one more person who claims to eat healthily tells me that he/she uses Smart Balance or any of those health robbing butter substitute “spreads”, I think I’m going to scream. This includes other pseudo-foods like Egg Beaters too.
A loud, obnoxious, ear piercing, wine glass shattering SCREAM!
You see, there is nothing remotely “smart” about Smart Balance unless of course, you happen to be a shareholder of the company. In that case, you would be very happy with the cheap, rancid, genetically modified vegetable oils used to manufacture substitutes for butter resulting in a very low cost of production and handsome profit margins.
Don’t think for one moment that Smart Balance could possibly be made in the comfort of your own kitchen the way lovely yellow butter can easily be churned from cream in a bowl with a hand mixer.
No way! A frankenfood as complex as Smart Balance or any of the many other “spreads” on the market requires synthesis in a factory in all its high tech, food denaturing glory. Smart Balance and margarine spreads like it is chemistry experiments, not food!
Get a load of the catchy marketing on the Smart Balance website:
It’s funny how these margarine manufacturers always talk about “using it” and “loving it” like butter.
Why would people do that anyway?
Mmmm. Maybe because these folks need some healthy fats like REAL butter perhaps??
I know a die-hard vegetarian who once told me that every now and again when she craves a big, thick juicy steak, she gives in and eats one.
Smart gal. Cravings can tell us a lot about ourselves – if we’ll only listen – from the state of our gut as in the case of craving sugar and having a gut imbalance problem to craving a steak due to the complete proteins only animal foods can provide (soy is NOT a complete protein, by the way. Don’t even get me started on that one).
So, when that craving for all things buttery comes over you, it is always best to get some Real Butter and slather it on anything that seems remotely feasible at the moment.
A vegan community in South Florida suffering from severe dental decay issues likes to eat raw butter straight out of the tub with a spoon, I’m told. Now, that’s a serious craving for the “buttery taste”!
What Exactly is in Smart Balance?
Let’s take a look at the ingredients in Stupid, er – I mean, Smart Balance:
When this post was originally published, here were the ingredients in Smart Balance (original):
Natural oil blend (soybean, palm fruit, canola, and olive oils), water, contains less than 2% of whey (from milk), salt, natural and artificial flavor, vegetable monoglycerides and sorbitan ester of fatty acids (emulsifiers), soy lecithin, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, Vitamin D, dl-a-tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E), lactic acid, beta carotene color, and potassium sorbate, and calcium disodium EDTA (to preserve freshness).
Ingredients Analysis
Shall we analyze this rather long list of ingestibles?
- The soybean and canola oils are almost certainly genetically modified. Frankenfood at its finest!
- The olive oil isn’t even extra virgin olive oil and is likely cut with cheap vegetable oils like most olive oil on the market. Can we say cheap, cheap, CHEAP?
- Natural and artificial flavor – this must be where that “buttery taste you crave” part comes in. Excellent stuff if you dig tricking your taste buds (newsflash, you won’t trick your tummy though. At least not for long. You’ll be craving that “buttery taste” soon after and more than likely sticking your head in a big bowl of ice cream by 9 pm).
- Soy lecithin – yet another genetically modified ingredient.
- Vitamin A palmitate – the synthetic form of vitamin A – the kind that is dangerous. Since there’s not much natural about Smart Balance in the first place, “fortification” with synthetic vitamins seems logical!
- Vitamin D – the label doesn’t even specify what type, but I can pretty much guarantee it’s synthetic D2, which won’t help at all in avoiding vitamin D deficiency symptoms. Is this the wondrous, natural vitamin D3 everyone – even Oprah – raves about? Brilliant marketing and wishful thinking don’t make it so.
- Beta carotene color – the normal color for factory-produced margarine like Smart Balance is a very unappetizing grey, so the color is definitely needed here to fool the masses. Don’t be fooled that this beta carotene adds natural Vitamin A either. Beta carotene is not true vitamin A!
- Potassium sorbate – a supposedly safe food preservative that inhibits microbial growth. Safe at least until they find it isn’t. Three cheers for being a guinea pig!
- Calcium disodium EDTA – an organic pollutant which breaks down in the environment into ethylenediamine triacetic acid and then diketopiperazine. Diketopiperazine is a persistent organic pollutant, similar to PCBs and DDT. Not only does Smart Balance pollute the bodies of those who eat it, but it also pollutes the environment too!
Smart Balance 7 Years Later
Let’s analyze the ingredients again 7 years later. Smart Balance has, in the interim, gotten significant press on its “pledge” to remove GMOs from its ingredients. Has it happened yet? Apparently not. Don’t hold your breath on that one. Not much improvement here despite an outcry from consumers to do better.
- Vegetable oil blend (canola, olive, and palm oil)
- Water
- Contains less than 2% salt
- Pea protein
- Natural and artificial flavors
- Sunflower lecithin
- Vitamin A Palmitate
- Beta-carotene (color)
- Vitamin D
- Monoglycerides of vegetable fatty acids (emulsifier)
- Potassium Sorbate
- Lactic acid
- Calcium Disodium EDTA
Let’s analyze the (few) changes.
Little Improvement in Smart Balance Ingredients
First, the GMO soybean oil has been removed. While this is a positive, unfortunately, GMO canola oil is still in there as the primary vegetable oil.
Second, pea protein has replaced the whey protein from before. This is apparently an effort to make Smart Balance dairy-free. Is pea protein any healthier than whey protein? Unfortunately not. All protein powders are highly processed and not a healthy choice.
The GMO soy lecithin has been replaced with sunflower lecithin. This is a solid improvement and a step in the right direction.
Two new ingredients include lactic acid and monoglycerides of vegetable fatty acids. While lactic acid is not really a problem, it could be from a GMO source. The originating food for lactic acid is not specified. Similarly, the vegetable oil that is used to derive the emulsifying fatty acids is not specified. In those situations, I’ve learned to pretty much assume the worst … they are most likely of GMO origin. If they were nonGMO you can be sure Smart Balance would trumpet as much on the label like they have identified the source of the lecithin as nonGMO sunflower.
Everything else appears to be the same.
All in all, Smart Balance has improved from a grade of “F” to a “D-” in seven years. Is it healthy to use? Nope. It’s still frankenfood and not a good choice for those who understand the critical importance of natural, healthy fats in the diet.
Butter is Always Best!
Nothing manufactured in a factory can ever beat the simple, natural, whole nutrition of plain BUTTER and other whole traditional fats. No genetically modified, artificial flavors or organic pollutant preservatives needed. Loads of natural form of vitamins A, D, and E that really will boost your immune system unlike the synthetic versions in margarine spreads like Smart Balance.
Be sure not to buy butter from cows fed genetically modified feed, however, like Kerry Gold is rumored to do.
Grass-fed butter is what you are looking for (quality sources)!
Butterfat is far superior to the rancid, highly processed vegetable oils in Smart Balance. While not hydrogenated, the edible oil processing, called interesterification, is still very much denaturing and is arguably worse for cardiovascular health than transfats.
On the other hand, butter, particularly grass-fed butter, is one of the richest sources of vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 is the magical X-Factor written about by Dr. Weston A. Price which is known to prevent arterial calcification which is a very strong (if not the strongest) predictor of cardiovascular disease risk, NOT cholesterol levels. Natural cholesterol in the diet supplied in forms such as grass-fed butter and eggs are extremely beneficial to health!
Folks with low cholesterol suffer from heart disease at the same rate as those with high cholesterol. Don’t tell that to the folks in the marketing department at Smart Balance, though. They’re doing really well with that catchy marketing slogan that associates the use of Smart Balance with “healthy” cholesterol levels.
What if You Have a Dairy Allergy?
For those with dairy allergies, natural and truly healthy butter substitute spreads made with unrefined traditional oils are now becoming available. This one is my favorite which blends virgin coconut oil and that anti-oxidant powerhouse, red palm oil without any additives, fillers, GMOs or destructive processing.
Once you get past the marketing hype, it sure seems that the more appropriate name for Smart Balance would be “Stupid Balance”, don’t you think?
References
Interesterification of Vegetable Oils, by Dr. Mary Enig
Whole Health Source, Butter, Margarine, and Heart Disease
Hi,
Whether EDTA is an ‘organic pollutant’ or not is in a sense a matter of semantics, but it certainly isn’t true that “Diketopiperazine is a persistent organic pollutant, similar to PCBs and DDT.” Diketopiperazines (plural — it is not one substance, but a class) are small peptides, entirely biodegradable, synthesized by most organisms on earth, including mammals. Many of them were found in soil microorganisms and turned into natural “drugs” earlier in the last century, and they continue to be a source of such.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tet.2007.04.105
Also, the organic version of smart balance contains no EDTA, nor added vitamins of which you seem suspicious for no clear reason.
It’s going to be end of mine day, but before finish I am reading this fantastic article to increase my experience.
That’s how I was raised too. Margarine was part of every meal. I don’t believe though that vegans is the way to go. Eating meat is necessary to keep you healthy and it’s the way nature works.
Please cite sources where you find this info. I’d be interested to read more. Thanks! 🙂
I am a vegan. Eating meat is not necessary to keep you healthy. And its not the way nature works. Humans do not have the teeth to eat meat. Their jaw is not made to eat meat. Our teeth are blunt, squared off whereas a carnivore or omnivore has sharp pointed teeth. You may want to take a look at this chart which shows the difference physiology between plant eaters and meat eaters. You will be surprised. http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/natural.html
This is pure mis-information. Eating meat is NOT necessary to keep you healthy… And there are a lot of things in nature that don’t always work out in the best interest of our species so let’s not fall back on the “It’s natural argument” – should we allow murder and violence in general because we are a naturally aggressive animal?
The fact of the matter is human’s desire for meat is far outpacing our ability to safely produce it… hence the rise of factory farms. Anyone who eats meat has shielded themselves from the horrors of what goes on in them.
Eating meat, or any animal product is not necessary for survival. I haven’t eaten meat in 25 years and I’ve been vegan for 3. I’d wager a bet that I am as healthy as any meat eater (probably healthier).
Regardless, it’s amazing to me that it’s possible to live a longer and healthier life by NOT eating (or harming or stressing or abusing) animals and still people choose cruelty over reason.
Earth Balance prides themselves on Zero GMO’s and it’s 100% natural. There is no relation between the Smart Balance and Earth Balance company. I find it interesting that you grouped the two together in your first paragraph. Smart Balance, however, is crap. No one should be craving butter. They may be craving calcium, as your veggie friend may be craving protein.
http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/product/original-buttery-spread/
So canola oil is 100% natural and healthy??? That’s not correct at all….
with all due respect, all your info works fine unless you have a dairy allergy and butter can be life- threatening to you. there are many reasons people use butter substitutes. I find it unfair that you do not include that in your “teachings “
Dairy allergy is usually an allery to proteins in milk and cheese. There is also lactose intolerance – the inability to break down a sugar in some persons. I have yet to hear of an allergy to butterfat, composed mainly of medium chain fatty acids, so enjoy this God-given food. In contrast, man-made margarine can be life-threatening following continued use. Trans-fats can only form from polyunsaturated vegetable oils (as those in margarines), not from saturated fat – high school bio 101.
This is exactly my point – LIVE-THREATENING, thank you ! If I eat DAIRY, my pulse and BP go through the roof and if I didn’t have my medication with me to double up on, I would be in the ER or worse. This situation is no joke. If you only use this product sparingly, you would have no problem. I normally ONLY use Extra Virgin Olive Oil – it doesn’t work though for all foods.
Is this pasteurized dairy or raw dairy?
Cholesterol is so vital for the integrity of cell membranes and tissues, especially in nerves and brain, for the production of male and females hormones, and for cycles of healing, during inflammatory illnesses like atherosclerosis, arthritis and Alzheimer’s, that the liver works overtime to manufacture it.
If there are one or two savvy businessmen out there, the idea of making and marketing a cholesterol supplement could prove lucrative. Correct, in industrial societies the mindset to lower cholesterol consumption has left much of the populace sick because livers are exhausted from working overtime. I see it in patients complaining of one or more chronic degenerative diseases, every day. Chronic illnesses are epidemic because of wrong choices made by persons prompted by Madison Avenue, led astray at the outset by clueless physicians rehashing the cholesterol myth.
One other item, calcium disodium EDTA in Smart Balance, like citric acid, is used in the deodorization and hydrogenation steps in oil processing to chelate trace metals that can catalyze rancidity. Since the oils used in margarines are a cheap grade – if not already rancid as one reader suggested – it is especially important not to allow the consumer to get a whiff of the margarine’s condition after the lid on the container is opened. Be smart by balancing out Smart Balance.
However saying BUTTER is good for you is misleading as well, saying that cholesterol in foods like BUTTER does not hurt you is dangerously incorrect. Our bodies make cholesterol, we do not need to add more to it.
About 80% of the cholesterol in the human system is made by the liver, between 800 and 1500 mg daily; 20% comes from food. When a person goes on a low-cholesterol diet or takes statin drugs to lower cholesterol, the liver is forced to produce more. A high cholesterol diet allows the liver “rest” and produce less. The human system is not suicidal – quite the opposite — so it should be clear that the liver does not produce cholesterol to cause damage to any organs or tissues.
The results of a major study published last year (August 24, 2012) in Atherosclerosis show that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs increase the severity of atherosclerosis by 52% as confirmed in 6,673 study subjects. Again, cholesterol is the body’s band-aid, much-needed for healing. It plugs holes in arteries, nerves and connective tissue (skin, bones, joints, etc.). When cholesterol is in short supply the body employs calcium instead of cholesterol. Calcium makes arteries brittle and liable to breakage. This is just one reason why increased calcification of arteries occurs in persons taking statin drugs.
These disturbing findings come right on the heels of another study published in the journal Diabetes Care which discovered that type 2 diabetics with advanced atherosclerosis who are frequent statin users have significantly higher amounts of coronary artery calcification compared to less frequent users of the drug.
See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22981406
Consume butter and eggs and enjoy. (Persons with chronic inflammatory disease might be best avoiding the whites of eggs because of the sulfur content. Sulfur is inflammatory because it enhances xanthine oxidase activity).
Suggested reading: “Homogenized Milk and Atherosclerosis,”
Nicholas;
This article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22981406 that you posted says NOTHING about Diabetics. I think you need to rethink what you post.
Dear Margaret,
The info in Diabetes Care connecting increased artery calcification in frequent statin users, Type II diabetics specifically can be found on the following link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22875226
Diabetes Care. 2012 Nov;35(11):2390-2. doi: 10.2337/dc12-0464. Epub 2012 Aug 8.
“Progression of vascular calcification is increased with statin use in the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT).”
I agree that the vegan options described above (esp. GMO ingredients) aren’t good for one’s body. However, the process through which we make butter from milk obtained during factory farming from cows is extremely not healthy for the cows. They have to be forcibly impregnated and then the calf is removed from them so humans can take their milk. That calf might either become veal by being kept immobile to minimize muscle buildup. Or, if female, will be subjected to a life of further confinement for milk production until it is too old to produce milk and is slaughtered. Awesome. All so we can have butter? Which isn’t good for you either. Lame.
You are assuming that we get butter (or make butter) using milk from CAFOs (pasteurized homogenized milk) which is not true for most concerned about their health. Most use fresh raw milk from a local farm, from cows/goats that are grass fed, not sick, don’t use antibiotics, aren’t fed growth hormones, etc. Most of us wouldn’t use factory milk to have butter, or buy butter made with factory milk….
Raw milk, butter from grass fed cows, fresh eggs, etc, are ALL VERY good for you. Factory milk, butter and eggs are bad for you.
Butter is high in fat, never being healthy for anyone, I just don’t get what all the hoop-la is about when it comes to butter………….just stay away from it all and everyone will be heading up the road to healthiness.
I use marmite.. you should too 🙂
I’ll admit I’ve got a tub of it in my fridge right now. But the last I opened it I notice how the color had changed, it seemed to glow, and when I skimmed that off what was under it was much much lighter. I thought “ick!” and reached for the real butter. The reason I used it to start with was because one of my “dieting” family members said it was good, and good for you.
I’ve always been a fan of the real stuff, butter, real whole eggs, whole cheese… And that’s what I’m gonna stick with.
There are some margarine that are lower in Sat Fat and Trans Fat than butter. Right?