Food Lipids: Chemistry, Nutrition, and Biotechnology

Figure 7 Vegetable oils used in salad and cooking oils for the United States in 1994.
was used for frying purposes. Several different companies are continuing to work in
this project area using conventional plant breeding to lower the saturates. In most
cases, these companies are working to combine this attribute with low linolenic and/
or high oleic traits to offer an oil that is low in saturates with improved stability
under high temperature uses. None of these groups has yet developed an oil with
less than 8% saturates.
b. High Saturates. The presence of trans fatty acids in the diet has become a
major issue for U.S. and European consumers. In 1993 margarine sales began to
decline as a number of studies indicated a potentially adverse impact of the trans
fatty acids found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils used in the manufacture
of most margarines and spreads. These studies (some of which received extensive
publicity and are discussed in Ref. 5) suggested that trans fatty acids contributed to
coronary heart disease by raising levels of LDL cholesterol and lowering levels of
HDL cholesterol. Although there is still considerable debate in the medical community
about the true health impacts of trans fatty acids, they have become a source
of concern for many consumers and have affected buying habits. At the same time
that U.S. consumers became concerned over the trans issue, butter manufacturers
began to aggressively compete with margarine manufacturers for market share
through price reductions and increased marketing and promotional activities. The net
result is that margarine sales have declined since 1993, falling by more than 6%
from 1993 to 1994.
An opportunity was seen to exist for the development of a suitable oil containing
sufficient saturates in its natural makeup to eliminate the need for hydrogenation.
Hydrogenation, normally used to increase the saturated fatty acid levels in a
triglyceride system, is the primary producer of trans fatty acids when polyunsaturated
systems are reduced to monounsaturated systems. Thus elimination of hydrogenation
would result in the elimination or minimizing of trans fatty acid occurrence in food
Copyright 2002 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.