Smart Balance Spreads - A Heart Healthy Alternative to Traditional High-Fat Foods

What's the difference between Smart Balance Omega PLUSTM and other phytosterol spreads?
Omega PLUS is unique in several ways. It contains our patented blend of balanced oils developed by nutrition scientists at Brandeis University to help you improve your cholesterol ratio, and it's entirely free of hydrogenated oils and harmful trans-fatty acids. Omega PLUS also contains a phytosterol we call NatucolTM to help reduce your LDL cholesterol. Unlike the other brands, which use sterol or stanol esters, NatucolTM is a free sterol (not chemically modified by hydrogenation nor esterification). Furthermore, Omega PLUS contains organic Menhaden Oil, rich in long-chain Omega-3's, to help promote a healthy level of blood triglycerides. That's why we call Omega PLUS The Ultimate SpreadTM. It truly is like no other product out there.

What makes the Smart Balance Food Plan different from other nutrition programs?
The Smart Balance Food Plan is much more than a compilation of recipes and nutrition tips; it's designed to assist you in improving your blood cholesterol by balancing your dietary fats. We use Smart Balance Buttery Spread and our other foods as a convenient source of balanced fats throughout the Plan, and we recommend many other foods as well, including fresh vegetables, fruits, meats and fish. We hope you enjoy it!

How does Smart Balance Buttery Spread compare to leading spreads in taste?
The remarkable taste of Smart Balance comes from its unique non-hydrogenated formula, as well a distinctive Danish butter flavor (if anyone knows dairy flavor, it's the Danes). The absence of hydrogenated oil, which tends to "cushion" flavor release, allows our spread to melt instantly once tasted, tantalizing your palate with its wonderful butter flavor. In fact, our Butter Spread is so flavorful, its buttery essence even comes through in cooking and baking. That's why Smart Balance won a "Best Taste" award by the American Culinary Institute for three years in a row.

Is Smart Balance really proven to help improve blood cholesterol?
Brandeis University nutrition scientists developed the Smart Balance oil blend over many years to support their contention that precisely balanced fats with limited dietary cholesterol and no trans fatty acids can help improve a person's ratio of "good" HDL to "bad" LDL cholesterol, entirely through dietary means. Other conditions that help achieve this blood cholesterol effect include balancing at least two-thirds of your dietary fat intake; limiting your total fat to 30% of calories consumed and saturated fat to 10% of those fat calories; and, last but not least, getting regular exercise.

What's so bad about trans-fatty acids?
Research indicates that trans fats are even more damaging than saturated fat, because they can raise the "bad" LDL cholesterol and lower the "good" HDL cholesterol in blood. Natural saturates raise both; Smart Balance harnesses this effect, by allowing the right kind of saturated fatty acid to sustain or raise "good" HDL cholesterol while balancing it with polyunsaturated fatty acid to help lower "bad" LDL cholesterol - thus improving the HDL-to-LDL blood cholesterol ratio. See U.S. patents 5,578,334; 5,843,497 & 6,630,192.

What makes Smart Balance trans fat free?
There are three key ways to avoid trans fats in spreads: 1) Lowering fat content to limit trans fats to less than one-half gram per serving, thereby qualifying to claim zero trans fat content per serving; 2) Full hydrogenation and interesterification, two separate chemical processes using heated oil with a metal catalyst which saturate the fat with hydrogen so that trans fats can't be formed; and 3) Use of natural saturates in place of partial hydrogenation or full hydrogenation and interesterification. Smart Balance uses natural saturates (palm fruit oil) and balances it with polyunsaturates from soy and canola oils. This comprises the patented, heart-healthy Smart Balance blend that we believe to be superior to other methods of avoiding trans fatty acids.

Why do you use palm fruit oil? Isn't palm oil unhealthy?
There is a major difference between the oil from the fruit of the palm tree and the nut kernel that contains palm kernel oil. Palm fruit oil contains far fewer saturates and less myristic and lauric acid. Another plant source of saturated fat is coconut oil. This, too, is much higher in saturates and myristic and lauric acid than palm fruit oil. Our nutrition scientists chose palm fruit to replace hydrogenated oils as the best and lowest source of natural saturates. The palmitic acid in palm fruit oil is also an excellent aid in sustaining HDL "good" cholesterol when balanced properly with polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Why do Smart Balance Bottled Oil and Light Mayonnaise contain no palm fruit oil? Does this mean they're only partially balanced?
Yes - in fact, our Oil and Mayonnaise are partially balanced by design. These products are used in the Smart Balance Food Plan to help you balance your total fat intake over seven days of healthy eating. Our oil and mayonnaise contain an ideal balance of polyunsaturates and monounsaturates, but no added saturates. This allows you to balance your total fats by gaining saturates from meats, fish, and dairy foods. Most Smart Balance products provide a total balance of fats, but Oil and Mayonnaise play a special role in our Plan and are therefore formulated differently.

What's the difference between Smart Beat® and Smart Balance®?
Smart Beat offers excellent fat free and low fat cheeses, mayonnaise, spreads and squeeze spreads. They're all lactose free and very low in calories. Smart Balance products are focused on using healthy fats to help you improve your cholesterol ratio, while avoiding trans-fatty acids and hydrogenated oils.

How long can I keep my Buttery Spread out of the refrigerator?
We suggest keeping Smart Balance Buttery Spread at room temperature for no longer than five hours. After this amount of time, it may start to "oil off" - that's because it's not hydrogenated, and therefore healthier than margarine or spreads that may be kept out of refrigeration for much longer periods.

Why is Smart Balance so firm out of the fridge?
One of the things that makes Smart Balance so much like butter is its firm texture when cold. But unlike butter, Smart Balance softens quickly at room temperature. Because other spreads contain hydrogenated oils, they're softer when removed from the refrigerator. You'll find you can easily spread Smart Balance even when it's cold, by scraping the surface with a knife; it will fan out in an attractive pattern on the blade.

Can I cook, bake and fry with Smart Balance?
Yes -regular Smart Balance 67% oil Buttery Spread contains enough fat to make it excellent for cooking and pan frying as well as most baking. Note that, because of its lower fat content, Smart Balance Light (37% oil) Buttery Spread is primarily intended for use as a topping, though you may also use for light sautéing and broiling.

Does Smart Balance sell to restaurants and institutions?
We recently created individual portion cups of Smart Balance Spread and are making them available wherever possible. We also make bulk containers of our margarine, shortening and oil for restaurants and institutions that cook vegetables and meats in hydrogenated oils, making it possible for them to remove trans-fatty acids. In addition, bakers can now eliminate trans fats with Smart Balance Margarine and Shortening. Feel free to contact us with further questions about availability of Smart Balance products.