Why is Butter Yellow if Milk is White?

Grass and flowers contain the yellow pigment beta-carotene. When cows eat these plants, they store the beta-carotene in their fat.

The amount of beta-carotene that is stored in the cow's fat cells, depends on their diet. Whole milk usually contains about 3% fat, but cream contains about 30% - 40% fat. At least 80% of butter is fat.

A New York Times article explains:

"The fat globules suspended in milk or cream are surrounded by a thin membrane that, in essence, ends up hiding the beta-carotene pigment. This structure reflects light in such a way that the milk looks white ... In the process, the membranes break apart and the fat globules cluster together."

Butter from sheep, goats or water buffalo is white. The reason is because those animals don't store beta-carotene like cows do. Their milk contains vitamin A, which has no color.

If cows are fed grain, which is low in beta-carotene, their butter isn't a rich yellow and therefore pigments are added to that butter to give it a "normal" appearance. Usually annatto is used for this purpose. Annatto is a derivative of seeds from the achiote tree, which is native to Central and South America.

In recent times, the medical community has started backpedaling on its stance regarding butter. After years of hearing that butter causes the clogging of arteries, and eating it will bring on heart disease, it's becoming clear that margarine, with trans-fats, is what should be avoided.

Science Daily Reported:

"A research team led by scientists at the UNC [University of North Carolina] School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health has unearthed more evidence that casts doubt on the traditional 'heart healthy' practice of replacing butter and other saturated fats with corn oil and other vegetable oils high in linoleic acid."

People were trying to do what was good for their health, by avoiding butter and doing their best to cut fats of every kind out of their diet. What they didn't realize was by doing that, they were actually putting their health at risk.

The reason they got it wrong was because everywhere you turned, you were told to avoid fat and that butter was one of the worst "offenders". How times have changed.

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