“Eat Margarine or Your Family Will Die” – Really?

“Health food” commercials are getting worse and worse – and of course I'm not referring to adverts for kale or grass-fed beef. I'm talking about products with a list of unpronounceable ingredients – products I go out of my way to avoid. And given that you're reading my blog, I suspect you do too.

There seems to have been a huge turn here. It seems to slow be becoming the norm to eat an unprocessed diet of real, whole foods. Avoiding processed carbs like bread and pasta seems to be slowly becoming mainstream, and a feat of fat is definitely starting to disappear. I get the impression the manufacturers of  all those other food-like-products are getting worried…

So which advert has been annoying me most this week?

Flora Pro-Activ

Cue upset wife that her husband has high cholesterol. He undertakes the Flora Pro-Activ challenge for three weeks, has his cholesterol re-checked. Ends with happy wife, now her husband isn't about to drop dead due to a high cholesterol invoked heart attack.

So what is the Flora challenge? For three weeks you eat 25 g of Flora every day, make sure you eat your wholegrains, replace BAD saturated fat with healthy saturated fat and generally keep your fat as low as possible. Nooo!

And what does Flora Pro-Activ actually contain?

Ingredients: Water, Vegetable Oils (30%), Plant Sterol Esters (12.5%), Buttermilk, Modified Waxy Corn Starch, Salt (1%), Emulsifiers (Mono-and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Sunflower Lecithin), Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Citric Acid, Flavourings, Colour (Beta Carotene), Vitamin A and D

And evil butter? Let’s remind ourselves of the dangerous ingredients that contains: Pasteurised Cream (from Milk), Water, Salt. Three ingredients that I have in my kitchen; compared to unidentified “vegetable” oils and a host of ingredients not available at the local farmers market.

Despite a lot of research showing a higher cholesterol actually lowers the risk of heart attack, of course, these companies still like to keep us fearing cholesterol. More worrying is the margarine they want us to eat to benefit our health – so chemically processed, they are a fat that our bodies don’t recognise at all.

The other issue, is the claim that the plant sterol esters in this product actually lower your cholesterol. The adverts make it sound like a magic potion, with the ability to dramatically cut your cholesterol in a matter of days. The reality is that alone, these chemicals can supposedly only reduce cholesterol by a maximum of 10% (average results presumably a lot lower) – and of course that’s assuming reducing cholesterol is a good thing.

All in all I find the advert extremely misleading and think it’s outrageous that they come into our homes every day, suggesting that if you love your family, you need to make sure they eat 25 g of margarine a day – or risk losing them to heart disease.

The Myth of Margarine: What’s the Real Health Risk?

For years, margarine was touted as the heart-healthy alternative to butter — a spread allegedly designed with your arteries in mind. But now that we’ve pulled back the curtain on what margarine actually contains, many of us are asking a far more sensible question: why were we ever told to eat this in the first place?

The truth is, margarine is an ultra-processed product engineered in labs and pumped full of chemically altered fats. These fats, including trans fats and processed polyunsaturated oils, are nothing like the natural fats our bodies evolved to metabolise. And no amount of rebranding or health halo marketing can change that.

What Happened to “Natural”?

It’s amazing to witness the food industry’s efforts to redefine what’s “healthy.” Butter, cream, eggs — once demonised — are now slowly regaining their rightful place in real-food circles. And while health-conscious communities have been embracing whole foods and ancestral eating patterns for over a decade, mainstream advertising is only just starting to notice. But instead of embracing these shifts, many brands are scrambling to cling to their outdated models, doubling down on their margarine and cholesterol-fear campaigns.

“Cholesterol Lowering” – But At What Cost?

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: cholesterol. The suggestion that lowering cholesterol is always a positive outcome is deeply flawed. Numerous studies have shown that cholesterol is essential for hormone production, brain function, and cellular repair. Lowering it artificially through chemical means, without addressing the underlying cause of poor health, could actually be harmful.

Not to mention, many of these cholesterol-lowering spreads (like Flora Pro-Activ) aren’t doing anything particularly miraculous. As mentioned, their key active ingredient — plant sterol esters — might reduce LDL cholesterol levels by around 10% at best. And that’s in ideal conditions, alongside a textbook-perfect low-fat, grain-heavy diet. But does this reduction equate to reduced risk of heart attack or stroke? The evidence simply isn’t conclusive.

Marketing vs Science: Who Do You Trust?

When you see a glossy commercial that plays on fear and emotion — a worried wife, a serious voiceover, a heartfelt pledge to “take control” — you’re not watching science. You’re watching marketing. These ads aren’t concerned with long-term health outcomes; they’re focused on brand loyalty, product sales, and cleverly timed emotional triggers.

Compare that to the growing body of independent research that’s highlighting the role of nutrient-dense, unprocessed foods in long-term wellbeing. More and more nutritionists, doctors and ancestral health advocates are saying the same thing: eat real food, minimise inflammatory ingredients, and don’t fear healthy fats.

The Paleo Perspective on Spreads and Fats

If you’re following a Paleo lifestyle, the idea of margarine probably seems laughable. Why would you swap something like grass-fed butter or ghee — both rich in vitamins A, D, E and K2 — for a synthetic product with preservatives, chemical stabilisers, and ambiguous “vegetable oils”?

Butter, coconut oil, animal fats and olive oil have stood the test of time. These are fats our ancestors consumed, often in abundance, without the chronic health epidemics we face today. Margarine, by contrast, is a modern invention born out of post-war industrialisation and misguided dietary guidelines — guidelines that are only now being dismantled as the science catches up.

The Bigger Problem with “Health” Products

Flora Pro-Activ isn’t the only product blurring the line between food and pharmaceutical. Every aisle in the supermarket is filled with processed products dressed up with buzzwords: “cholesterol friendly,” “heart smart,” “low GI,” and “plant-based.” But if you flip the packet and read the ingredients, it’s a different story entirely.

These labels exist to distract you from what’s really going on: ultra-processed food manufacturers are cashing in on health trends without genuinely supporting better health outcomes. They’re relying on outdated nutritional myths and fear tactics to keep consumers locked into a cycle of dependency on fake food — while real food sits quietly on the perimeter of the store.

What Can You Do Instead?

So, what’s the alternative to taking a “cholesterol challenge”? It’s simpler than you might think. Here are some truly health-supportive swaps:

• Use butter or ghee from grass-fed sources — it’s natural, nourishing, and doesn’t require a marketing campaign to prove it.
• Choose olive oil or avocado oil for cold applications, and coconut oil or animal fats for high heat cooking.
• Eat a nutrient-dense diet full of vegetables, pastured meats, nuts, seeds and wild seafood — real foods your body recognises.
• Get your fats from whole sources like eggs, oily fish, olives and coconuts.

You don’t need a challenge. You need information — and real, nourishing food that doesn’t come with a side of marketing spin.

Conclusion: Trust Your Instincts, Not the Ad Break

The next time an ad tries to scare you into believing your breakfast spread will determine whether you live to see your grandchildren, pause. Think critically. Ask yourself: does this message align with what I know about real health and real food?

If something feels off, it probably is. If a product needs a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to convince you it’s good for your heart, maybe it isn’t. Trust your instincts. Trust your body. And above all, trust the food that humans have eaten for generations — not the version that was created in a lab to mimic it.

What do you think about the Flora Pro-Activ challenge and the health commercials that come into your home each day?