Sometimes you can evaluate a person鈥檚 scientific acumen by a single comment they utter. This is the case with Catherine Sugrue who labels herself a 鈥渉olistic nutritionist rockstar.鈥� Of course suspicion about her knowledge is immediately raised when we learn that it was gained at the 鈥淚nstitute of Holistic Nutrition,鈥� which isn鈥檛 exactly Harvard. But the giveaway of the rockstar鈥檚 untrustworthiness is her reiteration of the absurd statement that 鈥渕argarine is about one molecule away from plastic.鈥� This isn鈥檛 about coming to the rescue of margarine. I don鈥檛 like it and I don鈥檛 eat it. I much prefer butter. But I am piqued by the shoddy pseudo scientific exhortations of self-proclaimed experts. In this case I鈥檓 further annoyed that this particular pseudoexpert was interviewed for an article about fats that appeared not in the National Enquirer, but in the National Post. When there are Canadians like Yoni Freedhoff, Chris Labos and Tim Caulfield who actually are experts when it comes to nutritional issues and would never confuse the public with ludicrous analogies between margarine and plastic.
Margarine being 鈥渙ne molecule away from plastic鈥� is just plain nonsense. Plastics are composed polymers while margarine is a blend of fats and water. There is no chemical similarity between the two. In any case, being 鈥渙ne molecule away鈥� is a totally meaningless expression. Substances are made of molecules, which in turn are composed of atoms joined together is a specific pattern. I suppose one might say that hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, is one atom away from water, H2O, but even this is meaningless. That extra oxygen atom changes the properties of the substance dramatically. Sticking a finger into a bottle of pure hydrogen peroxide quickly reveals the effect of that extra oxygen.
So, even if margarine had some chemical similarity to plastic, which it does not, its properties could still be dramatically different. Slight alterations in molecular structure can account for very significant changes in properties.
It is true that saturated fats have been vilified beyond the scientific evidence but the pendulum is swinging too far in the other direction. Kourtney Kardashian attributing her 5 pound weight loss to drinking clarified butter every morning is without scientific merit. Catherine Sugrue correctly warns that 鈥済etting your nutritional advice from celebrities is a dangerous game.鈥� But so is getting it from a self-proclaimed 鈥渉olistic nutritional rockstar鈥� who is a graduate of an institution where you can take continuing education courses in 鈥渆nergy medicine,鈥� 鈥渃linical detoxification,鈥� and 鈥渁pplied iridology.鈥�
