Heart health to benefit from GM oils

CSIRO Plant Industry has developed the first cotton plants genetically modified to produce healthier cooking oils and margarines.

Cottonseed oil is already used extensively as an ingredient in margarines and cooking oils, particularly in the food service sector.

However, to make it suitable for these uses it is generally subjected to a process known as 'hydrogenation' which can produce cholesterol-raising trans-fatty acids as a by-product.

"Oil from our improved cottonseed is suitable for cooking purposes without the need for hydrogenation," says Dr Allan Green, leader of the research team.

"Products made from these oils will be healthier because they will not contain trans-fatty acids."

To produce the new oils, the scientists 'switched off' genes in cottonseed that normally convert oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid, into polyunsaturated fatty acids. Polyunsaturates are nutritionally valuable, but break down under extreme heat, making them unsuitable for cooking uses.

"The hydrogenation process converts the polyunsaturates back into monounsaturates, but we have prevented their formation in the first place," says Dr Qing Liu, the scientist who genetically modified the cotton.

"By turning off the gene that produces polyunsaturates we have produced for the first time an inherently high-oleic cottonseed oil"¦"¦We haven't added any foreign genes to the cotton to achieve this, but have reintroduced a very small amount of the cotton plant's own DNA."

The healthy high oleic cottonseed oil will remain stable under high temperatures, making it a suitable replacement for hydrogenated oils and saturated oils in food service applications.

For further information please contact: Dr Allan Green, CSIRO Plant Industry ph: 02 6246 5154, or Dr Qing Liu, CSIRO Plant Industry ph: 02 6246 4919.

Item provided courtesy of CSIRO