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
May I ask what is your back ground I agree with you on smart balance but not on your kind of movement that whole milk fat, whole real eggs, and real fat butter is healthy I think my heart doctor and nutritionist would disagree one of the reasons giving for this nonsense is because fat keeps you filled up that’s what is being said and I say pizza can keep me filled up to that dosent mean it’s healthy for me every group is promoting something you have your kind saying drink whole milk eat whole eggs and real butter fat others are promoting flavor of the month fad diet I have news for you there’s b.s. marketing in the grocery industry and the organic health food industry I’ve just watch Dr Ann who said that smart balance is a good alternative then I watched another doctor who said all carbs are bad she said that pizza and brown rice are the same she promotes a high protein high fat diet sorry I don’t remember her name know wonder no one knows how to eat healthy when even the expert’s can’t agree
Get em Sarah, Like my registered dietitian who told me to cut my consumption in half as a way to lose weight. SHE, HERSELF NEEDED TO LOSE 50 LBS.
Most of these “experts” are the result of a failed medical system. My own cardiologist still writes prescriptions for Statin drugs. They do exactly what they are intended to do, lower cholesterol. But, your brain is 75% cholesterol.
Dementia and Alzheimer’s might be the result of that lowered cholesterol.
I’m not an expert, just making thought provoking commments and suggestions. Do your own research!!
i slowly and thoroughly read and enjoyed your article. I know about most of the points you made about how horrible Smart Balance is. Those are my exact thoughts. I am in a senior food program called “Meals on Wheels” and tho I appreciate their well intended efforts, every meal they bring has it’s little pack of Smart Balance. So, every day, I throw away a Smart Balance packette. (I use organic salted butter.) i feel guilty about throwing this Smart Balance away because I am thereby adding to the pollution of our landfill.
I try to encourage everyone I know to eat eggs, butter and go organic. As you know, some listen, most don’t.
I eat 4 soft boiled eggs every day and after one year found my cholesterol has gone down by 24 points. My LDL (BAD Cholesterol) went down 23 points. My heart failure condition, which I was told was operating at 45%, is now at 100%. I also take supplements: Selenium (very importan for the heart and preventing many forms of cancer, Turmeric. and CO Q10. I am 86 and I Feel living another 10-20 years is doable if I avoid things like Smart Balance!!
Dear Stefanie, I go to a local hydroponic farm for all my produce. They produce some of the finest Bibb Lettuce and Big Beef Tomatoes (and Strawberries) I’ve ever tasted. They also raise Angus Bulls and cows Organically. I try to avoid grocery stores and pre-packaged chemical concoctions. Not everyone has this option, but it works for me!
Thanks so much for posting. I’m checking out of the hospital after 3 days with 2 large stents in my heart. So when the dietician comes around to get a meal order, I specify No equal, No aspartame, no artificial sweeteners of any kind. So every day they offer one of the above in the hope I’ll use it. Trash time. Today I looked up Stupid Balance and found your site. I hadn’t been suckered out of butter since my mother was; I recall her sprinkling food coloring onto oleo and how ticked she became when in front of company she asked me to pass the butter – I asked what butter, I don’t see any butter! Thanks also for your tip on Coconut butter. I’ve been using the Organic stuff from Trader Joe’s, but now will have to go read the label.
I sure wrong about thinking Smart Balance is healthy and safe. I will certainly get rid of what is left shortly. I also bought a big block of unsalted butter too. Best Choice Butter.
Thank you very much, Sarah. Someone else mention that about Smart Balance too. Yes, I thought it was healthy too.
I agree that everyone should consult a expert nutrition to individualize their diet. BUt the #1 expert of diet should be the individual. They have the most information at their disposal. When trained properly, an individual can detect how their body responds to certain foods. The other day I had turkey and dairy cheese and my nose started running. I knew right away why my nose was running. The best nutritionist are the one that teach the individual how to pay attention to their body. The body communicates with sensations….we just need to listen to it.
for best result isolate and take 1 food off your diet and see how your body responds. Or take all of the foods your mentioned off your diet and bring them back to your diet, one by one, and see how your body responds.
As a food and nutrition expert, I always warn my patients about searching the Internet and reading information posted by people who are not credentialed in this field, such as yourself. Food choices are highly personal and should always be based on individual needs and goals. The truth is -its not black and white. You can find something “wrong” with just about everything in the local grocery store. That’s because all of our food and even our water is processed or modified in some way. So I urge you to please be responsible when posting information to the public and refer them to a Registered Dietitian. We are the experts in this field and we provide the most accurate information and individualized, evidence- based recommendations. I appreciate your passion for health and wellness. Just realize your word has power, please use it carefully and consider your place in the field of nutrition.
You mean the Registered Dietitians that allow McDonalds and other junk food loving corporations to be the sponsors of their Conferences?? LOL