Soyatech.com
Soya and Oilseed News
06-22-06
Food Companies to Begin Testing New, Low-Linolenic Soybean Oil from Iowa
State University
Iowa State University is introducing the food industry to a new soybean oil, the
likes of which they have never seen before. The new oil contains twice the
amount of oleic acid found in conventional soybean oil and only 1 percent of
linolenic acid.
The food industry tests will determine if the oil can go where no unhydrogenated
soybean oil has gone before: into food products (like cereal and energy bars,
powdered cheese sauces and non-dairy creamers) that require more stability
than previous unhydrogenated soybean oils could deliver.
This is the latest step in the research at Iowa State University to produce
soybean oils that do not require hydrogenation, a chemical process that
increases shelf life but produces trans fats. Trans fats have been linked to
increased cholesterol in the bloodstream and an increased risk of heart disease.
On January 1, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration began requiring food
manufacturers to show the amount of trans fats on nutrition facts labels.
The new oil is the product of research conducted in the university's agronomy
department by a soybean breeding team led by Walter Fehr, Charles F. Curtiss
Distinguished Professor in Agriculture.
Fehr obtained from scientists at Saga University in Japan a soybean line with
about 50 percent oleic acid, compared with about 28 percent in conventional
soybeans. The Japanese soybean, developed by conventional breeding, could
not be grown in Iowa because it did not mature before frost and its linolenic acid
content was too high to avoid hydrogenation. The Iowa State research team
wanted to transfer by conventional breeding the genes controlling the elevated
oleic acid trait into their varieties with 1 percent linolenic acid that are grown
commercially in the Midwest.
"Our 1 percent linolenic acid oil does not require hydrogenation and has been
adopted by the food industry in a range of products," Fehr explained. "We
wanted to find out if it would be possible to make the 1 percent linolenic acid oil
even more useful by increasing its content of oleic acid, the same
monounsaturated fatty acid found in olive oil. We were not sure whether we could
combine the two traits in a variety because it had never been done before."
Much of the research to develop the new oil was accomplished at Iowa StateÌs
breeding nursery in Puerto Rico because the Japanese soybean would not
mature in Ames. It was not until the summer of 2005 that the team had a chance
to find out if their research was successful.
"We planted seed of potential new varieties last spring at Ames and waited
anxiously for the harvest," Fehr recalls. "The results were better than we had
anticipated. The oleic acid of the soybeans was greater than 50 percent and the
linolenic acid was only 1 percent."
The unique soybeans were developed with funding from U.S. soybean farmers
through the Iowa Soybean Association and United Soybean Board. They were
processed during June into refined oil and packaged for distribution to the food
industry.
Fehr said that the evaluations by the food industry will be extremely important for
assessing the importance of elevating oleic acid in soybean oil.
"We know that the 1 percent linolenic acid oil performs very well. The tests by the
food industry will determine if elevating the oleic acid has made the oil even
better. If the results are positive, soybean breeders will develop varieties with the
two traits that can be grown by farmers to expand the market for their crop," Fehr
said.
Companies can order free samples of the new oil for testing by contacting Fehr
at (515) 294-6865 or wfehr@iastate.edu.