Well, if you work hard at it, ANYTHING is only one molecule away from being plastic. You'd just have to spend a lot of time in a lab coming up with the right polymers. Moreover, most margarines contain a lot of ingredients that aren't usually found in plastics (like, er. butter, salt, and vegetable fats).
Even if it were true that margerine were only a simple molecule away from being plastic (and that's NOT the case), that wouldn't be meaningful in itself. Biochemistry doesn't work like that.
What matters is not exactly what goes into a product, but how the chemical bonds are arranged. An awful lot of things are only "one molecule" or even "one atom" away from being something else that's really harmful.
Water: is only one atom away from being hydrogen peroxide (bleach, toxic).
Flavonoids: are composed of 2 benzene rings joined by a chain of carbon atoms. Flavonoids are enormously beneficial in the human diet, benzenes are carcinogenic.
Oxygen. The chemical formula is O2, only one atom away from O3, which makes ozone. Ozone is a poisonous gas.
Even if it were true that margerine were only a simple molecule away from being plastic (and that's NOT the case), that wouldn't be meaningful in itself. Biochemistry doesn't work like that.
What matters is not exactly what goes into a product, but how the chemical bonds are arranged. An awful lot of things are only "one molecule" or even "one atom" away from being something else that's really harmful.
Water: is only one atom away from being hydrogen peroxide (bleach, toxic).
Flavonoids: are composed of 2 benzene rings joined by a chain of carbon atoms. Flavonoids are enormously beneficial in the human diet, benzenes are carcinogenic.
Oxygen. The chemical formula is O2, only one atom away from O3, which makes ozone. Ozone is a poisonous gas.
