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
Butter is NOT a better alternative. You say there’s no GM in butter but you are WRONG. They are feeding the cows GM corn. Monsanto’s genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST) is still injected into dairy cows in the US to increase milk-production.
*ALL* cow’s milk (regular and ‘organic’) has 59 active hormones, scores of allergens, up to 52 powerful antibiotics. Of those 59 hormones one is a powerful GROWTH hormone called Insulin- like Growth Factor ONE (IGF-1) http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/90/12/911.long
IGF-1 promotes cancer when its high.
Milk from rBGH-treated cows has much higher levels of IGF-1, a hormone considered to be a high risk factor for breast, prostate, colon, lung, and other cancers.
Best thing to do is be vegan and make your own spread and stop buying anything that processed be it vegan, venetian, or processed foods in general.
We are talking about grass fed A2 cows here, NOT factory farm cows eating growth hormones, grain, antibiotics, etc…
Thanks Natalia,
I will check that out later. I do have some experience with thyroid myself. I had graves at the age of 29 and RAI after that, am on levo for the rest of my natural life at this point and it all is related to undiagnosed celiac. My sister had hashi, also from celiac. We have all been tested at the Mayo at this point. So yeah, I try to avoid animal fats as they don’t digest well in my body and I am trying very hard to find ways to take calcium at this point. Celiac creates known absorption issues. At this age, 50 plus, I have had to STOP taking calcium citrate because of the extreme pain and stiffness I got in my hands and arms from it. Wierd! Trying to avoid high fat dairy while getting calcium is really a trick. The lowfat organic milk goes bad so fast you might as well not buy it. The high fat creates a digestion problem for me. But I would LOVE to chow down daily on eggs, cream, cheeses and high fat yogurt that actually tastes good. I don’t eat pork. I hate liver and always have. I like salmon but finding non farm raised in this part of the country is also a trick. Right now I battle chronic pain in my upper back, arms and neck. Both my sisters and daughter (PCOS) have dealt with osteopenia. I don’t EVEN want to do an xray to find out. Given my choice, I’d be a vegetarian…..but you have to get alot more than veggies have to offer these days.
I’d love to agree with your rage above but the simple truth is that if you have over the top cholesterol – dangerously high, butter, eggs and high fat fairy escalate the problem. I know from personal experience from a multi generation family history. I decided to DO the organic thing, the fatted organic milk, organic eggs and natural high vitamin A grass fed butter. I went off my lecithin which I had been on TEN YEARS and the results? Cholesterol 337, LDL over 200. My dad has had two heart attacks and multiple stents in the past two years. He has normal to low cholesterol. It’s not the cholesterol numbers alone but the TYPE of cholesterol you have that is telling. I went off the high fat butter onto Smart Balance, Lecithin, eating almost no eggs and no butter and it came down 100 points in 60 days. My good cholesterol is still high normal. Yeah, I am a blood type O and SHOULD be a meat eater. I’ve had to cut my meat eating way down. These highj fat diets work for some but not others. Wish I were one of them but I would probably weigh 250 lbs.!
Carol, I understand your concerns regarding cholesterol because mines 317 with the majority of it being bad cholesterol. It’s been that high that I’ve known since I was 12. My cholesterol got checked because the doctors had discovered my thyroid was out of wack. They checked my thyroid because I have “issues” (Aspergers and Social Anxiety Disorder) and they thought maybe there was something physically wrong with me that was causing my mental problems. After three thyroid tests one being normal and the cholesterol test coming back high, they determined that my thyroid was fine and I just needed to go on a low fat-high carb diet. This was incredibly dumb because I was 4’11, 105lbs and had already been eating a low fat- high carb diet. I’m 29 now and I’ve ate low fat-high carb (even higher carb when I went vegan)for my whole life minus a few months here recently where I’ve actually started to get better. My daughter and I (she’s 8 and has Aspergers too) are on the GAPS diet after a friend who has Bipolar told me about it. She has everything I have except she has Bipolar not Aspergers and I have Vitiligo but she doesn’t. We both have Hashimotos (yeah I have a REALLY bad thyroid problem lol! Gotta love doctors ;)), adrenal fatigue, and mental issues. I don’t know what my cholesterol is now since starting the diet. I do know that it doesn’t have a lot if anything to do with my heart health. If it does have something to do with it going low fat-high carb doesn’t help it at all in fact it hurts your heart. Especially when you’re using butter substitutes that contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in an attempt to eat “healthy butter”. I found this article and hope you find it interesting: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/why-cholesterol-may-not-b_b_290687.html. Notice he says 75% of people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol! Anyhow I hope that all made sense and I know the author of this blog post came across as slightly argumentative but I encourage you not to toss out what she said because its true. It’s understandable to get aggravated when doctors are continuing to spread false information at the expense of their patients health.
Natalia M may I ask if you have seen any improvement on your vitiligo while on GAPS diet; Sorry for the off-topic question but I am dying to know.
Cholesterol isn’t the bad thing. You can have high cholesterol and it is ONLY bad if you have inflammation in your body. Get rid of the inflammation and you are perfectly fine. Raw milk even helps to lower cholesterol.
I’m amazed at how crazy you health nutz are… attacking anything that is successful and makes someone else money MUST NOT BE HEALTHY! Better pick apart and analyze each individual ingredient! I especially love how she lists Vitamin D, Vitamin A, and olive oil as being BAD! LOL, I’m sorry I can’t take anything you people say seriously… It’s as if you believe anything you read on the internet!
You are comparing processed vitamins with natural vitamins. They are far from being the same…
By lumping Earth Balance in with Smart Balance, it is apparent that you did not do enough research. Earth Balance does not contain the same things as Smart Balance.
http://lifeinlittlehispaniola.blogspot.com/2012/12/an-earth-balance-rebuttal.html
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for the info. I totally agree real grass fed butter is better, but I am curious about your attack on potassium sorbate. While I agree that avoiding additives and preservatives is the best rule of thumb, I’ve been doing some reading on potassium sorbate to try and understand why it might be harmful. It is my understanding that it is one of the longest tested and used preservatives in the US and is considered safe world wide – over 60 years old by some reports. I have read a few reports saying it should be avoided because it is a preservative, but no reasons have been given as to why it should be avoided. Do you have any good sources you could point me to that could give me a good explanation as to why it is harmful?
Thanks
there are complete protiens in lotsa plants mixed 🙂 ask my 81 year old vegan grandpa who still works hard every day and has been vegan for oh, 50 plus years
Wow!… But ask my grandpa, who died when he was 92. He build picnic bench by himself from scratch when he was 87. He had lard, butter, hem, bacon, red meat, wild game, pickles, and soup primarily with shot of vodka before every meal. And he ate that the entire life! He never seen a single doctor after WWII where he got injured by a bomb explosion. He fought the bloodiest battles as well. His mind was sharp until the end.
dude(t) haha wow that is really cool! I am glad you had him for so many years and he sounds like a tough guy! Hopefully I can have my Grandfather for just as long and more 🙂 I guess it just goes to show, there are lots of secrets to living long! If you look up Seventh Day adventists in the national Geographic, they are listed as one of the groups that lives especially long, so there is a very decent amount of backing :)it is not just a one of a kind thingy 🙂 isn’t it amazing how 2 completely different diets end up with such great results!!!
My kid is allergic to dairy. Specifically casein and whey. Tell me how stupid I would be if I fed my kid butter.
A1 or A2 casein? More are allergic to processed A1 casein. But with raw A2 casein, few are sensitive to this… And even less are sensitive to A2 casein from goats and other mammals.
Wow, sarah even i was fooled by smart balance! I am lactose intolerent & been using smart balance light spread cause it claims its dairy free, but after feading this article i’ll take a lactose dairy digestive pill & start using real butter again! Thanks for this very informative article! 🙂
If you use raw butter from an A2 dairy source, you probably won’t even have to use the digestive pill…
According to Thomas Brenna, a professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University who has extensively reviewed the literature on coconut oil, a considerable part of its stigma can be traced to one major factor.
“Most of the studies involving coconut oil were done with partially hydrogenated coconut oil, which researchers used because they needed to raise the cholesterol levels of their rabbits in order to collect certain data,” Dr. Brenna said. “Virgin coconut oil, which has not been chemically treated, is a different thing in terms of a health risk perspective. And maybe it isn’t so bad for you after all.”
Partial hydrogenation creates dreaded trans fats. It also destroys many of the good essential fatty acids, antioxidants and other positive components present in virgin coconut oil. And while it’s true that most of the fats in virgin coconut oil are saturated, opinions are changing on whether saturated fats are the arterial villains they were made out to be. “I think we in the nutrition field are beginning to say that saturated fats are not so bad, and the evidence that said they were is not so strong,” Dr. Brenna said.
Plus, it turns out, not all saturated fats are created equal.
Marisa Moore, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, a nonprofit association of nutritionists, said, “Different types of saturated fats behave differently.”
The main saturated fat in coconut oil is lauric acid, a medium chain fatty acid. Lauric acid increases levels of good HDL, or high-density lipoprotein, and bad LDL, or low-density lipoprotein, in the blood, but is not thought to negatively affect the overall ratio of the two.
She went on to say that while it is still uncertain whether coconut oil is actively beneficial the way olive oil is, small amounts probably are not harmful. The new federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that no more than 10 percent of total dietary calories a day come from saturated fat. For a 2,000-calorie diet, that’s about 20 grams.
Any number of health claims have been made for lauric acid. According to proponents, it’s a wonder substance with possible antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiviral properties that could also, in theory, combat H.I.V., clear up acne and speed up your metabolism.
“There are a lot of claims that coconut oil may have health benefits, but there is no concrete scientific data yet to support this,” said Dr. Daniel Hwang, a research molecular biologist specializing in lauric acid at the Western Human Nutrition Research Center at the University of California, Davis.
But, he added, “Coconut is good food, in moderation.”
Bruce Fife ND has written extensively on these issues with tropical vs vegetable oils, e.g., his book on palm oils has excellent chapters on oils which delve into this subject in depth. His other book on coconut cures addresses nearly any health question you can think of, with many applications and he goes head on with concerns about cholesterol, etc.
See http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org