Becel Omega3Plus
January 12th, 2008 by PotatoA few months ago I got a coupon to buy some Becel Omega3Plus margarine, so I decided to give it a whirl. I’ve got to say I haven’t been very impressed. For the most part, it’s just like regular margarine (as you’d hope). You spread it on your toast, eat it, etc. But you get the benefit of having more variety of omega-3 fatty acids. While it seems to taste pretty much the same, it has what I find to be a really funny smell which often makes me change my mind and reach for the jam instead. My biggest complaint about it though is that it doesn’t seem to melt right when using it to cook with. Regular margarine (and butter) tend to melt and then bubble & foam when you have the frying pan at close to the right temperature, whereas this just seems to melt and then separate into a film with droplets in it, almost as if it were watered down or something.
Note that despite the marketing of this version as a source of Omega-3’s, original Becel margarine is also a source of Omega-3. In fact, both versions offer up 0.6 g per serving. The only difference is that the Omega3Plus version has all the different types of Omega 3 fats added in (ALA, DHA, EPA) which is probably better for you, while the original version doesn’t mention which source provides its Omega-3s (probably just ALA). The new Omega3Plus version also has fewer Omega-6 fatty acids (1.5 g vs 2 g) which is important; I believe the rule of thumb is that your diet overall should have about 4X as much Omega-6 as Omega-3, so a source of Omega-3’s (i.e.: something to bring the ratio back in line from our typical diet of 10X or more in favour of Omega-6) should have a lower ratio (here, 2.5X and 3.3X).
Since I’m really picky about my food having even slightly strange smells, I don’t think I’ll be buying the Omega3Plus version again, but if you don’t usually use your margarine for cooking with, you may not have any problem with it.
January 13th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
A book I just read recommended that your Omega6 to Omega3 ratio should be more like 2:1. But then it also said that if humans had never started eating lean protein we never would have diverged from chimps and developed bigger brains. So you can take with a grain of salt :)