Brownfield, MO
06-30-06
New soybean oil offers healthier lifestyle
by Lane McConnell
Iowa State University researchers have developed soybean oil that requires no
hydrogenation. This came about due to the need to address the trans fat issue
explains Walter Fehr, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in
Agriculture at Iowa State University.
“We began this research in 1968 after consumers became aware of trans fats.
When the Food and Drug Administration began requiring food manufacturers to
show the amount of trans fats on nutrition facts labels we had an option that
produced soybean oils that doesn’t require hydrogenated.”
The new oil contains twice the amount of oleic acid found in conventional
soybean oil and only 1% of linolenic acid.
“We are working now on another step to improve the shelf life of soybean oil by
adding to the shelf life of soybean oil by adding to the 1% linolenic trait and
increasing the oleic acid, which we believe will increase the shelf life, says Fehr.
Fehr hoped that his research team’s findings would be as good as partially
hydrogenated oil, but never expected what the research found.
“I was surprised to find that the oil was superior to partially hydrogenated oil and
has been very well adopted in food products already,” says Fehr.
The soybeans were developed with funding from U.S. soybean farmer’s checkoff.