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
Just to let everyone know SMART BALANCE ownes Udi’s Bread (GF YES GF) and Glutino Brand – I’m surprised!!!!!
What a shame you are teaching your kids to murder. The dairy industry is very cruel, using a non dairy marg is definitely more humane. I teach my kids compassion to all animals, not just some that we class as pets. They are all beautiful sentient beings that cry when their calves are ripped from them so they can keep producing massive quantities of milk for greedy humans that are not calves! Their calves are branded, left in pens and sold as veal for more greedy humans to murder. Maybe you should consider if taste is more important than torture and murder.
You are really, really confused about how things work.
Dairy cows have long, productive lives. They produce milk which gives up cream, butter, cheese. And generally so do their calves.
Get real about life.
But you are EACH talking about two different things.
Corissa you are speaking of CAFO cows, grain fed, A1 cows who are sick, full of antibiotics, etc, that you HAVE to pasteurize their milk otherwise you WILL get sick from it, which increases ear infections, increases mucus in your body, causes obesity, sickness, etc….
Ed, you are talking about grass fed, A2 cows who are happy and healthy. Milk that is healthy, raw, able to cure TB, has probiotics, able to regulate blood pressure/sugar, able to reverse obesity, able to fix psoriasis, etc…
I don’t think anyone on this page is talking about getting butter from the cows that Corissa is speaking about. We are all talking about the cows that Ed is speaking about. We need to know and understand each side. But NOT get them confused.
I love grass fed A2 Jersey cow milk, full of cream, healthy (doesn’t create mucus like the CAFO, A1 milk (and dairy products made from it) is VERY healthy and is NOTHING like the dairy products at the store that many buy from.
Ed – you are the one that is confused hun! Dairy cows have long productive lives alright – they are kept pregnant 24/7 so that you can have that milk you think you need so desperately. Those calves they give birth to are taken away immediately after birth to be kept in small boxes so that their muscles stay tender! When a diseased, spent cow is finished being milked, she is hauled off for slaughter in very cruel ways. Enjoy those items your cherish but don’t live under the guise that these animals are treated well. At least take a look at what you are doing, if you have the guts. There are thousands of videos taken by undercover workers that will show you the truth, take a look on you tube. All those foods you listed cause grave harm to animals and the planet alike.
Grace, you are speaking of CAFO cows, grain fed, A1 cows who are sick, full of antibiotics, etc, that you HAVE to pasteurize their milk otherwise you WILL get sick from it, which increases ear infections, increases mucus in your body, causes obesity, sickness, etc…. They are forcefully impregnated, etc.
Ed is talking about grass fed, A2 cows who are happy and healthy. Milk that is healthy, raw, able to cure TB, has probiotics, able to regulate blood pressure/sugar, able to reverse obesity, able to fix psoriasis, etc… They naturally get pregnant when they choose, they are milked along side allowing their babies to fed as well (again the RAW milk, not pasteurized).
You are talking about such completely different things. CAFO dairy cows are NOT happy or healthy, raw milk farm dairy cows ARE happy and healthy.
Sarah, Thank you for your information. However, please read the following from Earth Balance, completely unrelated to Smart Balance. They are committed to avoiding GMO’s.
http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/responsibility/non-gmo-commitment/
But they are using canola oil by their label. That can’t be organic…. Not possible….. So they are not following what they say how this is organic….
I am not a vegan. I think if you want to keep healthy, balanced diet is very important. I eat fruits, vegetables but l also don’t refuse meats and margarine. They give me enough energy and nutrition.
“Butter is always best” —- Not so much for the cow.
If you’ve ever been to a grassbased farm, the cows are very happy and well cared for. They do not mind milking at all!
Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particular post!
It’s the little changes that will make the greatest
changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!
Dear Mary Elizabeth,
In my 40 years of work, I have never seen or heard of an allergy to clarified butter or ghee. Other dairy products and cow’s milk all of the time; goat or sheep, very rare. Replacing dairy besides butter with spread you’re substituting one poison for another that will manifest itself, sooner or later, with a chronic inflammatory disease. Wish you luck through the minefield of chronic ills.
agreed!!!! They don’t understand….
If I could use and eat sweet delicious BUTTER, believe me, I would. However, at the age of 57 I developed a few very serious Food Allergies, including the allergy to DAIRY (cow, sheep, goat,). Fortunately or unfortunately, however you look at this, the only product that works as a butter for me now is Smart Balance LITE (which has absolutely no DAIRY in it at all). SO, like it or not, for someone like me who can’t in any way take the chance of putting DAIRY in my mouth, Smart Balance LITE is a blessing.
When you speak of cow, goat, sheep, do you mean pasteurized milk, or raw milk?
“do you mean pasteurized milk, or raw milk?” Does it matter? Do raw peanuts or pasteurized peanuts give you allergies? Duh! If you are allergic to something it doesn’t matter if it’s heated or not!!
This raw milk thing is so annoying. Not raw milk doesn’t cure disease. We are not calves and we also lack the proper enzymes to fully digest dairy. Just because you don’t get the shits doesn’t mean it’s all good. It’s time to ween off the tit, you’re to old for that. You can easily make dairy free substitutes like almond, hazelnut or brazil nut drinks at home.
I do eat cheeses though as those are fermented and only in small quantities, but for drinking I use Almond “milk” all day long baby!!! By the way it’s pasteurized. But when I make it at home it is raw but we drink it right away.
That is exactly the point though. We don’t make lactase to digest milk, but it IS in raw milk. So saying you have an allergy to pasteurized milk is much more common. Now if you have a casein sensitivity, then goat milk is more than likely okay for you.
I was raised on butter, had very bad allergies. I don’t so much now with SB. I can now maintain with allergy meds. Although when ever I go out to eat a pancake breakfast I will use butter since it’s once in a great while.