Source: USDA/ARS Food & Nutrition Research Brief

Oil from tomorrow's soybeans--for salad dressing, cooking oil or margarine--might have higher levels of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats than today's soybean oils.

In particular, a line of soybeans developed for breeders and known by the designation N98-4445A has a higher amount of oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat that helps keep soy cooking oils stable even when used for frying foods at high temperatures.

The soybeans' low level of polyunsaturated fats helps sidestep problems those fats can cause, such as off-odors.

What's more, the improved ratio of monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fats is expected to reduce the need for hydrogenation, a process that helps stabilize vegetable oils but, at the same time, creates unwanted trans fats.

ARS scientists in Raleigh, N.C., developed the promising new breeding line of soybeans.

USDA-ARS Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research Laboratory, Raleigh, NC.