Soybean cookies sound pretty disgusting, right?   Soybeans and soybean oil were among the many approaches to healthier unhealthy food once it was discovered that saturated fats, which can be found in foods such as cream, cheese and butter, were bad for the heart.

But soybean oil spoiled when heated so producers had to hydrogenate the oil to keep it stable, thus creating trans fats.   Guess what turned out to also be bad for you?   

But soybeans are not out of it yet and through natural pollination procedures, Kristin Bilyeu, a researcher with the USDA Agriculture Research Service located in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at University of Missouri-Columbia, led a team that developed a soybean 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.


These soybeans produce an oil that is low in saturated and trans fats and were developed through a natural breeding process.  Credit: Keith Montgomery/University of Missouri

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.

Is this soybean economically viable?   Soybeans are grown in nearly every climate in the middle of the country so perhaps.   


A University of Missouri research team has developed a soybean which produces oil that is naturally low in saturated and trans fats. Credit: Kent Faddis/University of Missouri Cooperative Video Group.

"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," Shannon said. "If you grow the plant in northern Missouri, you typically have 70 percent to 80 percent oleic acid in the soybean's oil. In southern Missouri, the oil is consistently 80 percent oleic acid. Before our work, we saw a lot of variation in the amount of oleic acid that was produced based on the environment."

A byproduct from the study is that this soybean oil not only has health benefits but also can be attractive to the biodiesel market, according to Bilyeu. The high amount of oleic acid gives the soybean oil certain characteristics that make it good for biodiesel.

Citation: Anh-Tung Pham , Jeong-Dong Lee , J. Grover Shannon, Kristin D Bilyeu, 'Mutant alleles of FAD2-1A and FAD2-1B combine to produce soybeans with the high oleic acid seed oil trait', BMC Plant Biology 2010, 10:195 doi:10.1186/1471-2229-10-195 (open access!)