Vegetable Oils Lead to High Cholesterol and Heart Disease

The vegetable oils such as soybean oils are trans fats, they are a type of unsaturated fat that are a major contributor to high cholesterol and heart disease, because of vegetable oils are partially hydrogenated under agriculture shade net, a process used to give oils desirable properties such as a longer shelf life.

Companies and universities have spent more than a decade creating high oleic varieties, some of which are genetically modified (GM).  That's where high oleic soybeans come in. These types of specialty soybeans have been bred to produce oil that has no trans fats and produces a more stable cooking oil, thus eliminating the need for hydrogenation.

In January 2018 -- just in time for the Food and Drug Administration's ban on trans fats to officially begin. A handful of smaller companies are also commercializing non-GM high oleic soybean varieties this year. "It's now full steam ahead," said John Motter, an Ohio farmer who has grown high oleic soybeans for eight years. He is also the chairman of the strategic management committee for the United Soybean Board (USB), which has worked to create a market for these beans, such as using anti insect net to improve the yield.  "We're just trying to find the end users to continue to grow the demand for the product," he said.

The first studies formally showing this link were published in the early 1990s, but it would take decades of replicated research and lobbying before the FDA took action, he noted. In 2006, the agency began requiring companies to label products with trans fats. By 2013, the FDA proposed removing trans fats from the category of food ingredients "generally regarded as safe," which would effectively ban the ingredient for American food manufacturers. In June of 2015, that measure was enacted, and the industry was given three years to rid itself of trans fats.

The food industry was actively searching for oils that wouldn't require hydrogenation. That led to growth in the use of alternative oils such as palm oil or high oleic canola oil -- which gutted soybean oil's market share by more than 20%. The industry lost 4 billion pounds of annual soybean demand once trans fat labeling went into effect in 2006.

Altogether, there are around 650,000 acres were planted to high oleic soybeans last year, across 12 states, with maturity groups ranging from 2.0 to 4.2. Farmers send them to a handful of participating processors, which crush the beans, refine the oil and market it to the food service industry, food manufacturers and even industrial users, such as motor oil manufacturers.

With international market approvals in hand, Scientist expects demand for Plenish oil to rise. In 2018, Plenish high oleic soybeans will be planted on about 350,000 acres in several states with plant support net a significant increase in oil demand for 2018 and look to double acres for 2019 accordingly.