Directly taken out of the fridge and already painted on bread: As far as the substance is concerned, spreadable fats are far superior to butter. In terms of health, the replacement products outdo the original, writes Stiftung Warentest in a recent report.
Accordingly, spreadable fats have the fine butter taste, but have a more favorable fat composition due to the added rapeseed oil:
- Butter consists mainly of short- and medium-chain fatty acids, which are neither particularly harmful to health nor particularly beneficial.
- Rapeseed oil, on the other hand, contains polyunsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which have a positive effect on the heart.
The healthy unsaturated fatty acids are also responsible for spreadability. Unlike saturated fat, they do not harden when they cool down.
Partly large quantities of palm fat underpinned
Anyone who wants to know which fats exactly in his butter substitute should, however, study the small print list of ingredients. Although all products advertise large with butter and rapeseed oil. In five out of 24 products, however, according to Stiftung Warentest, palm fat was also present, two had added coconut oil. Both substances have a high content of saturated fatty acids for vegetable fats.
The products of Rama and Botterram even contained 39 and 38 grams of palm fat per 100 grams, respectively - more than rapeseed oil and milk fat combined. In addition, the testers found so-called 3-MCPD esters in both products, which may be carcinogenic in very high doses.
This is probably not cause for concern: currently there are no limit values for the substances, although maximum values are being discussed. These exhausted the two products only to 80 percent. Apart from that, the testers found no significant pollutants in any of the spreadable fats, neither plasticizers nor ingredients like mineral oils.
Test winner: "aromatic sweet taste, fresh smell"
As far as the taste is concerned, the examiners came to the test winner, the spread fat of Weihenstephan, literally rave about. "The examiners noted an aromatic Sahnote, a fresh, slightly lactic odor and taste," it says in the review.
Incidentally, the spreadable fats were invented in 2006 by Arla Food. The original finished in second place, here too the testers came to the conclusion: "Melts in the mouth like butter." In addition, even cheap products from Aldi Süd and Rewe received the overall grade "good".
Spreadable fats are not only suitable for the snack, but also for cooking and baking. When roasting, however, could inject it, warn the goods tester.
