Vegetable oil from soybeans that is much healthier than others created

LONDON - Craving for that pack of cookies but its fat content is stopping you? You may not have to do it now, as scientists have developed vegetable oil from soybeans that is much healthier than others.

University of Missouri researchers have developed a soybean, which produces oil that is naturally low in saturated and trans fats.

“When we started this research, we were looking at three factors. We needed heart-healthy oil. It needed to be stable with a good shelf life. Finally, it needed to be economically feasible,” said Kristin Bilyeu of University of Missouri.

Through natural pollination procedures, Bilyeu and Grover Shannon, professor of plant sciences at MU, developed soybean oil that was very high in oleic acid, which not only stabilized the oil, but also made it healthier.

The natural breeding increased oleic acid in the bean from 20 percent to 80 percent and decreased the amount of saturated fat in the oil by 25 percent.

Additionally, because the new oil is more stable, it doesn’t require hydrogenation, which typically rids the oil of Omega-3 fatty acids, which are good supplements for the human heart.

The next step of the research is determining whether this soybean will produce economically viable yields in different environments.

“One of the nice things about this trait of producing oil that is high in oleic acid is that it appears to be very stable,” said Shannon.

The study was published in BMC Plant Biology. (ANI)