Complete Story
05/22/2008
Ohio Soybean Council Promotes Soy Oil to Health-Conscious Consumers
COLUMBUS, Ohio - As Americans continue to look for healthier food alternatives, the Ohio Soybean Council (OSC) wants to remind consumers about the health benefits of soy oil.
Lately, there has been concern about the amount of trans fats in the American diet. Cooking oil has been at the forefront of this concern as some varieties contain high levels of trans fats. Trans fats occur when the oil has been partially hydrogenated. Hydrogenation helps the oil to avoid deterioration or going rancid over a longer period of time. Processed foods typically use partially hydrogenated oil so they have a longer shelf life.
Because of the growing health concern around cooking oil, OSC has taken a leadership role in the development and implementation of soybean varieties whose oil does not need to be hydrogenated and therefore significantly reducing or eliminating trans fats.
Low-linolenic soybeans are one such soybean because this variety has a low level of linolenic fatty acid while it maintains the low saturated fat content all soybeans offer. Low levels of linolenic fatty acid means this soybean variety produces oil that does not need to be hydrogenated. Today, oil produced from low-linolenic soybeans is used primarily in food manufacturing and restaurants.
Ohio, which ranks sixth in the nation for soybean production, produces over 4 million acres of soybeans each year which equates to nearly 200 million bushels of soybeans. On average, 18 percent of a soybean is made up of oil and 87 percent of all soybean oil is used as food. As a matter of fact, most vegetable oils are composed only of soybean oil.
Taking a closer look at low-linolenic soybeans, over 250,000 acres of this variety were planted in Ohio in 2007 with more expected this year. There are currently four processing facilities across Ohio that process low-linolenic soybeans.
