Is margarine vegan? This is probably one of the most frequently asked questions that visitors to this site email me. The confusion perhaps lies in the fact that while margarine is not dairy-based, like butter, is often does contain trace amounts of animal products. While many small are not bothered by such a small amount of dairy - usually in the form of whey or lactose - those with dairy allergies and strict vegans will want to use a product that is completely free of even small amounts of dairy. So, is there such a thing as a 100% dairy-free and vegan margarine? The answer is yes! Read on to learn more about vegan margarine.
Is margarine vegan? This is probably one of the most frequently asked questions that visitors to this site email me. The confusion perhaps lies in the fact that while margarine is not dairy-based, like butter, is often does contain trace amounts of animal products. While many small are not bothered by such a small amount of dairy - usually in the form of whey or lactose - those with dairy allergies and strict vegans will want to use a product that is completely free of even small amounts of dairy. So, is there such a thing as a 100% dairy-free and vegan margarine? The answer is yes! Read on to learn more about vegan margarine.See More About
Explore Vegetarian Food
Comments
jesus christ!!!
if you care enough about your body to care whether something is vegan or not… then YOU SHOULD NEVER TOUCH THIS GARBAGE!!!
you are better of with REAL BUTTER!!!
You are 100% accurate Chris margarine is totally a garbage food. Designed to harden arteries. Why does someone here not list all the ingredients that make up this so called “good stuff
If you like to drink antifreeze and , fermaldihide, drink more milk instead of other healthy milk w/o all the crap in it.
Being vegan is not necessarily about caring about your body. It’s about caring for the environment and animals. Your logic is not sound.
If you think vegan is just about caring for your body then you know absolutely nothing about veganism. Oh and don’t believe everything you hear from the dairy industry lobbyists, you tool.
“Real butter”? -_- You don’t need milk; it’s harmful.
To Chris: Learn some manners please. And
‘vegan’ means no milk, so ‘real butter’ isn’t an option for those looking to this site for help. ‘garbage’? You obviously have done no research. Please try to inform yourself before leaving uphelpful comments.
Sometimes it’s about trying not to be rude to a host or hostess who only has margarine to offer. To be the best vegan you can be, it’s good to be informed of issues like this.
The reason that margarine is bad for you is its very high level of trans fats. From the point of view of health, butter is far better, but I realize that the important issue is that animal products be excluded from the diet, not one’s personal health.
Butter is not far better. Yes, some margarines contain trans fat, but there are other dangers from butter. Margarine is cholesterol free, but butter is not. Dietary intake of cholesterol is not needed–its actually foreign to the human body and should be avoided.
Also, why is butter real? Vegan margarine is straight from the vegetable. A cow eats the vegetable/grains then the butter is made from the cream. Seems to me that there is more processing to make the butter. Hmmm? I’ll stick with REAL margarine.
Cholesterol is not foreign to the body. Your body manufactures vitamin D and sex hormones from cholesterol molecules. Your body produces as much cholesterol as it needs for this.
Butter is more real because it’s natural. Hydrogenating oil using artificial emulsifiers and stabilizers is far from natural. People have been eating butter for centuries without issue… margarine has caused many health problems in the time it’s been here. Not to say that it will always be that way, I’m sure we’re well on our way. But… butter will always be more natural.
Technically, neither should be used, if possible. In most cases -liquid- oil can be substituted in recipes, and there are numerous other spreads that can be used for sandwiches, etc.
Fun Fact: Margarine is only one molecule away from being plastic.
So can 50% of all other foods we eat be something else with 1 molecule away. Any drink processed by us humans could add 1 molecule of any dangerous substance and there you have it, poison. Please stop posting this stupid fact that is 50/50 true.
hey you can use coconut oil, hemp oil, peanut butter,….nut butter…avocado…yooooo fat is everywhere….for simple vegan chocolate cookie i would simply make peanut butter chocolate cookies ! that way you don’t need margarine,….smart hey ..
Good call. Coconut oil is delicious when used to make oven fries, and avocado can be used in a lot of baking recipes in place of butter. I love avocado, it’s ‘Nature’s Butter’!
Have you butter lovers ever considered that butter was healthier before factory farming got involved? Thank you very much, but having breast cancer running rampant in my family history, I’ll stay away from butter these days when its laden with artificial hormones meant to keep cows teats growing and lactating their whole lives, antibiotics and where the cows are kept in deplorable, filthy and grossly inhumane conditions.
Honestly if it were back in “the day” and I had my own pet cow out by my “home on the range” that I could raise humanely for the natural life of that cow, I’d make real butter myself. But personally, I feel that it is wrong to keep a cow in a pen so tight she can’t move hooked up to a painful machine constantly pulling at her teats why she has to go to the bathroom and eat in the same pen. Then shooting her up with hormones to fool her body into thinking she’s pregnant her whole life just so WE can have her milk instead of her calf, who we either cart off to become another dairy cow or beef cow or chain to the ground to become veal. Then we slaughter the calf and take the rennet enzymes from their stomachs that was meant to digest their mothers milk (that God meant for the baby calf’s nutrition) and use it to make cheese for ourselves.
We tear apart natural relationships between animals to satisfy our own greed. I’m sure most people have heard that we are the only species of animals that drink another species’ milk.
Instead of butter, I prefer cooking with virgin (expeller pressed) coconut oil. It is good at high heat and does not convert to a trans fat like other oils like olive and vegetable do. Canola oil should never be heated. But when I absolutely have to “butter” some bread, I like the Earth Balance soy free.
Having been raised on a small dairy farm I can say this about our farm. We never used any kind of hormonal treatment to “trick” the cow’s into thinking they were pregnant all the time. It is a simple matter of biology. The more you nurse (milking is an artificial nursing) the more you produce and if you never wean you will continue to produce. If a cow requires medical treatment and antibiotics are used, that milk isn’t put with the milk that was sent for sale. We didn’t even drink that milk it went to feed other animals around that would not be harmed by it. For that matter when a cow got pregnant, that milk also could not be used, save for calves and specifically her calf. Yes, true Cows go “dry” and that is usually when they would be impregnated for further offspring and to re-start the milk flow.
What the huge farming collectives do, is add the hormonal stuff so that cows produce even more milk than they normally should and they well might use hormonal treatments so there are now dry spells.. but not all dairy concerns operate in this way, just most of them.
Chris, a lot of vegans just don’t want to use animal products, period. They’re not necessarily looking for the healthiest thing possible. I agree that butter is a more wholesome choice than margarine but if you’re trying to bake for a vegan (as I am), butter just isn’t an option.
Also, no need to be so rude. It’s serves no helpful purpose.
Cholesterol is NOT ‘foreign’ to the body. Bodies MAKE cholesterol (that little ole guy called the ‘liver’, heard of him?).
Blood, healthy blood contains cholesterol and the key is to not give it a reason to adhere to your arteries, which it does in an attempt to ‘patch’ thin spots in arteries caused by high blood pressure.
Exactly, Ailora, your bod ALREADY has enough cholesterol It’s not a nutrient, it’s not a vitamin that needs to be sourced. Your body produces it (as do animal bodies). Stop putting extra cholesterol into your body and your cholesterol levels will go down. Period. Why this is so difficult for people to grasp, I have no idea.
I am vegan because I refuse to support any industry that kills, often inhumanely, any animal.
I use a margarine called Nuttlex. In Australia it’s not easy being vegan. There are some great vegetarian foods available but no strictly vegan foods. No matter, with fresh produce and a little imagination…the world is full of delicious foods.
Amen, Tiffany! Someone commented once that if you stay away from eating animal products just for “health” reasons, don’t call yourself a vegan! You should just say you eat a vegan diet. You are a TRUE vegan if you don’t eat or use any animal products because you don’t believe in killing animals or causing their suffering. Factory farms are evil and should be outlawed.
And by the way, there are really good natural “buttery” vegan spreads made by Earth Balance – good tasting and good for you!
Cholesterol is a waxy steroid metabolite found in the cell membranes and transported in the blood plasma of all animals.
It is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes, where it is required to establish proper membrane permeability and fluidity.
In addition, cholesterol is an important component for the manufacture of bile acids, steroid hormones, and fat-soluble vitamins including Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, and Vitamin K.
Cholesterol is the principal sterol synthesized by animals, but small quantities are synthesized in other eukaryotes, such as plants and fungi
Cholesterol is required to build and maintain membranes; it modulates membrane fluidity over the range of physiological temperatures.
Bottom line, we need fats for our bodies to function properly, wether it is form plant or animal sources.
Exactly true, Karen. Which is why our bodies come with all the cholesterol we need already! We DON’T NEED a dietary source, and, indeed, cannot process or digest it when we do eat it.
I guess no one really wants to tell you the truth. Margarine is a man made product designed to harden the ateries.People have used butter for a long time it has many benefits.One is to assist your skin from dryness. You all should do more research. Remeber when the power bar came to Canada the gov. made them change the fomuli to add products for ill health.Fact from the sixties.
some people can’t have butter…medically
yes, factory farms are evil and should be outlawed, but that doesn’t mean all meat and dairy is bad. There are real farms and ranches that are raising animals the right way. No hormones, grass-fed, and free range. I’m not vegan, or even vegetarian. I’m just very picky about where my meat and dairy come from. I like to support farmers and ranchers who raise happy animals
Hmm, I wonder how “happy” they are when they’re getting killed, Adrienne.
To all the Vegans out there that don’t already know this, Ethiopian food is a great source of yummy, nutrious, exciting on your palate (to those that have never tried it before), and its gluten free. Just a friendly fyi. I’m Ethiopian and my mother is Ethiopian Orthodox, which means she “fasts” every so often depending on the church calendar. I wanted to invite her over for dinner and wanted to use margarine to make a vegan baklava for he, this website answered my question. To each is own, I personally am not a vegan but, because of my culutural food I tend to eat vegan quite often. But since I do love meat and am aware of the meat industry in the U.S. I tend to buy organic as possible and even go to the organic farm to slaughter lamb.
Tiffany … anyone who has heard that “we are the only species of animals that drink another species’ milk” has been misled … anyone who believes that has been a very poor observer of nature and animal behavior.
For those who think cholesterol is not needed by the body, this is not true. The ‘good’ cholesterol HDL (high density lipid) is known to be good for your body. Although it is not essential in the diet like other fats including essential fatty acids. They are needed by the body, hence ESSENTIAL fatty acids. Further, an ‘all or nothing’ mentality towards one’s nutrition and diet isn’t recommended. I am a nutritionist and and a vegetarian. However, I know that meat and animal products are NOT bad for you. It CAN be but if one eats in a BALANCED way and lives a balanced lifestyle, you should be happy as dandy. This does not apply to those with special requirements such as pregnant women, elderly etc.
But getting into animal welfare and cruelty, if one lowered their meat consumption, we can hope to no foster mass production etc. I for one find it hard to source where my products come from, I admire those who can and do. I guess if I did start eating meat again, I’d need to pick up my game. Eating out is slightly harder for a vegetarian but if I was to eat meat, how would I know where the restaurant got their meat from? That seems to me, to be harder than being a vegetarian diner. I live in a city with many vego friendly places and many are organic etc. I don’t call on others who don’t think like me though, this is because there may be other ways that I am not contributing to the welfare of the world and they may be doing their part too. Everyone has diff parts to give to the better of the world. Lets not build a stigma for us vegos and vegans, we’re not stuck up tight arses! We’re not perfect, but together as a people we can be :] Let’s not segregate by means of diet, beliefs, status, labels or anything!
Love and enjoy the life!
Can we all just get along
I am a proud Vegan with a sweet tooth once in a while I enjoy a little Margarine in small doses it will not clog your arteries.
I find it hilarious that some of you are claiming your own personal reasons for being vegans to be “what being a vegan is about”. Get over yourselves. It’s different for everyone. I’m sure PLENTY of vegans are doing it for health reasons and not so much 100% about the animals/environment. Who are you to make such a blanket statement and speak for everyone? lol
I believe Margarine is just as bad for you as diet soda/pop is. Not too many skinny people walking around drinking diet. I believe eating more natural is better for your body and easier to digest. Margarine isn’t natural.
Remember everyone, these are only opinions, comments, or how we feel. I choose to eat butter, I like the taste. My mom chooses margarine. She likes the taste.
As for meat consumption, I believe there are those that function better as a meat eater rather than a vegetarian, and there are vegans out there that function well with that diet rather than a meat eater. Listen to our bodies, it will tell us what we need. But if we all became vegetarians or vegans we would have a lot of starving animals on our planet. Read the book, the right food for your type. It’s matching foods up that agree with your blood type. I don’t believe we should criticize others for the lifestyle they have chosen. As an Open System Colon Hydrotherapist I see a lot of different people. I eat regular food. I very much enjoy eating Vegan cheesecake. It’s amazing. So good for you without the junk to put in your trunk. I agree with Adrienne as well.
Wish all of you well. =-)
@Tiffany and others ragging on the “big factory farms.” Have you ever visited one? EVER??? You’d be surprised. The animals are well kept and dairy cattle only come to feed lots after they have calved. The hormones aren’t to induce milking. And milking is a process cattle enjoy; lugging around that milk can be extremely uncomfortable, painful if left too long. (I am against the hormones, myself, but I know what they do and how they work)
I am vegan, and I used to be the same as everybody else. Down with big farms, all that jazz. And then I went to visit one. I was impressed. Anyone who has crap to say about big farms should keep their mouths shut until they’ve actually gone to see for themselves what actually happens. Oh, and where do you think vegetables come from? From backyard growers who hand pick everything with love and tender care? Nope, factory farms.
Before you all start shooting off at the mouth over the internet, might want to get your facts straight. Read up on the literature (the REAL literature, not media-frenzy), visit a farm, for goodness sake. You owe it to yourself and people around you to have a well-informed, EDUCATED opinion on things!
Nobody has stated the difference between margarine and butter…. Margarine and butter are the same thing except margarine derives its oils from plants and butter does it from animal fats. Margarine is the healthier choice because it contains the good kind of cholesterol. (Another fact which you people have overlooked)There is good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. HDL and LDL. Butter contains the bad cholesterol because it comes from animal fats.
Personally, with my diet, i’m generally so healthy and i eat mostly raw vegetables so when i do want some earth balance i don’t care much. It’s like counting calories on a cupcake when you only have one every month – pointless.
Yes to what everyone said : vegan is about the animals not the health, but i personally do enjoy being healthy. also: refined coconut oil is great for cooking [better than olive oil actually] and doesn’t taste like coconuts c:
a little fat is good people. and i doubt anyone here who is complaining about how gross both butter and margarine are actually is that healthy. you probably drink soy milk with the carrageenan gum and you probably eat out at places with non-organic vegetables and you probably eat processed food or pre-cooked meals or i don’t know. very few people are SO healthy that it would be a deciding factor in their lives to eat margarine/butter.
if it’s such a big deal just do what i do and eat your veggies plain [of if you're not vegan eat your organic kosher meat or whatever ] and every now and then treat yourself to some earthbalance or if you’re not vegan some butter or whatever. moderation guys. this is no worse than the gross things in soymilk {which is why i drink rice milk :3 }
So far I’ve seen no one who seems to understand that it isn’t cholesterol in food that is a problem, it is what your liver does with fatty acids in food. This explains it:
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/omega-3-000316.htm
Adrienne: Factory farm or small holding is largely irrelevant; most of the animals are carted off to the same slaughter houses where they are killed in the most inhumane ways you can imagine. Why anyone would want to eat an animal that has been under immense stress, suffered greatly and been traumatized before it died is beyond me.
“If slaughter houses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian”. McCartney.
Hello, I thank you/appreciate for the info about margerine/butter
I love being a vegan 
Take care 
Not all margarine is created equal – some have no trans fatty acids – even dairy based margarines. Same holds true for a 100% vegan margarine – for example “Earth Balance” – which has no trans fatty acis, or hydrogentated fats whatsover, nor does it have artificial colors or chemicals, etc. Eaten within reason / in moderation – it’s not that bad for you really – especially given that vegans are generally getting less fat than non-vegans – and zero dietary cholesterol.
Also – as mentioned before – there are ETHICAL and ENVIRONMENTAL reasons to choose VEGAN diet (i.e., to minimize mistreatment of animals & encourage sustainable environmentally friendly agricultural practices) … even if one thinks DIETARY benefits of vegan diet are debatable.
The food chain is tough.
Do you think that there is a species somewhere out there that is saying..
yeah.. i just don’t eat humans, they pack them so tight in to that planet they have.. then they are fed that crappy fast food and their air is polluted because they wont adapt a logical system that limits carbon emissions, and they drink tons of alcohol and do drugs which makes them pregnant for most of their lives and then those human kids follow the same pattern, packing more people into the already crowded planet.
Cute response, Jim, but the reality is that for most of us, the food chain is not “tough” at all.
To quote a friend of mine when speaking with teenagers, “Don’t be ridiculous.”
For heavens sake folks – I am not vegan but I was trying to make sure I didn’t screw up a recipe for a friend who is.
Why would anyone want to learn more about this lifestyle if when introduced you are treated to rude and unhelpful remarks?
I think I will stick to BUTTER.
Margarine Ingredients:
veggie-oil blend
water
whey (milk)
salt
veggie mono & diglycerides
soy lecithin
citric acid
artificial flavors
vitamin A
beta carotene (for color)
How it is made (kind of disturbing, actually):
Margarine makers start with cheap. poor quality vegetable oils, such as corn, cottonseed, soybeans, safflower seeds and canola.
These oils have already turned rancid from being extracted from oil seeds using high temperature and high pressure. Rancid oils are loaded with free radicals that react easily with other molecules, causing cell damage, premature aging and a host of other problems.
The last bit of oil is removed with hexane, a solvent known to cause cancer. Although this hexane subsequent removed, traces of it are inevitably left behind.
Moreover, some of these oils are not suitable for human consumption to begin with.
Cottonseed oil, one of the most popular margarine ingredients, has natural toxins and unrefined cottonseed oil is used as a pesticide. The toxin, gossypol, is removed during refining.
As cotton is one of the most heavily sprayed crops, there are also concerns that cottonseed oil may be highly contaminated with pesticide residues. However, insufficient testing has been done.
Canola oil, which is widely touted as the healthiest oil of all, has problems as well. Consumption of Canola has been linked with vitamin E deficiency as well as growth retardation. For this reason, Canola oil is not allowed to be used in the manufacture of infant formula.
The raw oils for making margarine are steam cleaned. This destroys all the vitamins and antioxidants.
However, the residues of pesticides and solvents – that is, hexane – remain.
The oils are mixed with finely ground nickel, a highly toxic substance that serves as a catalyst for the chemical reaction during the hydrogenation process.
The oils are then put under high temperature and pressure in a reactor.
Hydrogen gas is introduced. The high temperature and pressure, together with the presence of nickel catalyst, causes hydrogen atoms to be forced into the oil molecules.
If the oil is partially hydrogenated, it turns from liquid into a semi-solid.
Trans fats are formed during partial hydrogenation. These are fat molecules that have been twisted out of shape. In liquid oils, the molecules are bent, with the hydrogen atoms on opposite sides of each other.
During partial hydrogenation, the molecules are somewhat straightened and now all the hydrogen molecules are on the same side.
If the oil is fully hydrogenated, it turns into a hard solid that cannot be eaten. Trans Fats are supposedly now removed, but this does not mean they have become healthy again because of all the unnatural steps above.
What comes out of the partial hydrogenation process is a smelly, lumpy, grey grease. YUK
To remove the lumps, emulsifiers – which are like soaps – are mixed in.
The oil is steam cleaned (again!) to remove the odor of chemicals. This step is called deodorization and it again involves high temperature and high pressure.
The oil is then bleached to get rid of the grey color.
Synthetic vitamins and artificial flavors are mixed in.
A natural yellow color is added to margarine, as synthetic coloring is not allowed!
Finally, the margarine is promoted to the public as a health food – with the full endorsement of many scientists, doctors, nutritionists and health authorities who have drank the koolaid on this product.
The oils used for making margarine are also among the Big Four genetically modified crops – soy, corn, rapeseed / Canola and cotton.
The raw oils for making margarine are steam cleaned. This destroys all the vitamins and antioxidants.
However, the residues of pesticides and solvents – that is, hexane – remain.
The oils are mixed with finely ground nickel, a highly toxic substance that serves as a catalyst for the chemical reaction during the hydrogenation process.
Other catalysts may be used, but these, too, are highly toxic.
The oils are then put under high temperature and pressure in a reactor.
Hydrogen gas is introduced. The high temperature and pressure, together with the presence of nickel catalyst, causes hydrogen atoms to be forced into the oil molecules.
If the oil is partially hydrogenated, it turns from liquid into a semi-solid.
Trans fats are formed during partial hydrogenation. These are fat molecules that have been twisted out of shape. In liquid oils, the molecules are bent, with the hydrogen atoms on opposite sides of each other.
During partial hydrogenation, the molecules are somewhat straightened and now all the hydrogen molecules are on the same side.
If the oil is fully hydrogenated, it turns into a hard solid that cannot be eaten. It no longer contains trans fats because the “out of shape” oil molecules have all been broken up to form straight chains. But this does not mean they have become healthy again because of all the unnatural steps above.
What comes out of the partial hydrogenation process is a smelly, lumpy, grey grease.
A lot of Vegans like and recommend Earth Balance Spread.
Earth Balance contains PALM OIL which is highly dangerous to your health.
Vegans claim they don’t want any part of harming animals, however, it ok to destroy palm forests for heart of palm or palm oil. This deforestation has a much more dramatic effect on a larger wide range of species than using butter.
Wow, Adam, you really don’t like margarine, huh?
Interesting that this post is about VEGAN margarine, but then you go on to list the ingredients of a non-vegan product. Oops.
Also, many vegan margarines are made from mostly or exclusively from soy and are non-GMO.
So, yeah, there’s that, which kinda negates your five posts…
Leslie,
I’m a vegan, and I say AMEN to everything you said, sister. You were very thoughtful to make vegan food for your friend.
Fellow vegans, please read Leslie’s comment and consider a gentler approach to promoting your lifestyle.
“Vegetarian”, the post is about margine, period and Adam’s posts were helpful. Stop being an arrogant douche.
Oh, Melissa, I’m not being a “douche” (and are we really not above sexualized insults yet?), just calling out what I see, and that is someone who is very mad at veganism, for some reason, yet using a faulty argument.
And, yeah, the post is about vegan margarine. Adam’s post could have just have easily read:
Margarine ingredients:
100% soy bean oil
But, as the moderator, you should thank me for not deleting his post, or yours.
Dammit people! I know what processed food is and I know butter is “better” but for Christ sake!!! Is it vegan or not! It’s a simple question being asked here…yes or no? Period