Improving the fatty acid composition of soybean oil

Repellent efficacy of 20 essential oils on Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and Ixodes scapularis ticks in contact-repellency assays

Cases of mosquito- and tick-borne diseases are rising worldwide. Repellent products can protect individual users from being infected by such diseases. In a previous study, we identified five essential oils that display long-distance mosquito repellency using a Y-tube olfactometer assay. In the current study, the contact repellent efficacy of 20 active ingredients from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Minimum Risk Pesticides list were tested using Aedes aegypti and Ixodes scapularis. We utilized an arm-in-cage assay to measure complete protection time from mosquito bites for these active ingredients. To measure tick repellency, we used an EPA-recommended procedure to measure the complete protection time from tick crossings. We found that of the 20 ingredients tested, 10% v/v lotion emulsions with clove oil or cinnamon oil provided the longest protection from both mosquito bites and tick crossings. We conclude that in a 10% v/v emulsion, specific active ingredients from the EPA Minimum Risk Pesticides list can provide complete protection from mosquito bites and tick crossings for longer than one hour.

Characterizing of Oil Quality and Fatty Acid Profiles of Old Olive Trees in Palestine

Olive growing in Palestine plays an important role at social and economic levels. Nevertheless, the quality of olive oil produced in the country has not been fully addressed. This study examined oil content, peroxide values, acid values, fatty acid profile, and total phenolic content for old olive trees located in different climatic regions in Palestine during the years 2008-2010. Oil content was determined using both Soxhlet and Abencor systems. Acid and peroxide values were determined using standard methods. Total phenolic content was determined using the Folin-spectrophotometric method. Gas chromatography was used to analyze the main fatty acids found in olive oil e.g., palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic. Different ratios indicating olive oil quality were also determined e.g., sum ratio of unsaturated fatty acids to the sum of saturated fatty acids; ratio between the sum of monounsaturated fatty acids to the sum of polyunsaturated fatty acids, and the ratio between the oleic to linoleic fatty acids. Significant differences were found between geographic regions for the overall studied oil parameters. Wide variation ranges were obtained for fatty acids in the different West Bank locations in the three years. The major fatty acids in the olive oil samples were found to be oleic, palmitic, stearic, linoleic, and palmitoleic acids. The oil samples were found to contain more oleic acid and less linoleic and linolenic acids that is, more monounsaturated than polyunsaturated fatty acids. Total phenolic content was found to range from 125.0-978.0, 207.4-763.8, and 103.0-747.6 mg/kg in 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively. The acidity percentage was in the range of 0.10%-1.05%, 0.11%-1.29%, and 0.10%-1.91% in 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively. Peroxide values ranged from 2.26-13.1, 2.94-14.95, and 2.49-17.21 in 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively.

Which oilseed meal provides a higher yield and better nutrient profile of milk in grazing cows?

This study aims to verify which of the oilseed meals will provide a higher milk production efficiency and milk nutrient profile in grazing cows to optimize the production system and improve milk nutrients for the benefit of nutrition and human health. A Latin square experiment was conducted with 12 cows for 84 days, fed Tanzania grass, and concentrated with cottonseed meal (CotM), sunflower meal (SunM), soybean meal (SoyM) and peanut meal (PeaM). SunM tended to have a higher production of 3.5% fat milk and higher milk urea nitrogen compared with the other treatments. SunM tended to have higher amount of fat in the milk compared with SoyM. PeaM tended to have lower fatty acids C13:0, C15:0 anteiso, C15:0 in milk compared with SunM. PeaM tended to have lower C16:0 and C17:0 iso compared with SoyM and CotM. PeaM had lower C18:1trans in comparison to the other meals. The addition of SoyM tended to have higher C18:1 cis15 compared with PeaM and tended to have lower thrombogenicity index compared with CotM and PeaM. Aiming at milk health in pasture production systems, SoyM presented the best nutritional quality of the lipid fraction. For productivity and fat yield, SunM had better results.

Soybean (Glycine max) Mutant and Germplasm Resources: Current Status and Future Prospects

Genetic bottlenecks during domestication and modern breeding limited the genetic diversity of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.). Therefore, expanding and diversifying soybean genetic resources is a major priority for the research community. These resources, consisting of natural and induced genetic variants, are valuable tools for improving soybean and furthering soybean biological knowledge. During the twentieth century, researchers gathered a wealth of genetic variation in the forms of landraces, Glycine soja accessions, Glycine tertiary germplasm, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Type and Isoline Collections. During the twenty-first century, soybean researchers have added several new genetic and genomic resources. These include the reference genome sequence, genotype data for the USDA soybean germplasm collection, next-generation mapping populations, new irradiation and transposon-based mutagenesis populations, and designer nuclease platforms for genome engineering. This paper briefly surveys the publicly accessible soybean genetic resources currently available or in development and provides recommendations for developing such genetic resources in the future. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

New and Existing Oils and Fats Used in Products with Reduced Trans-Fatty Acid Content

The US Food and Drug Administration's final ruling on trans-fatty acid labeling issued in 2003 has caused a rapid transformation in the fat and oil industries. Novel ingredients and improved technologies are emerging to replace partially hydrogenated fats in foods. We present an overview of the structure and formation of trans fatty acids in foods, and a comprehensive review of the newly formulated products and current procedures practiced by the edible oil industry to reduce or eliminate trans fatty acids in response to the Food and Drug Administration's regulations mandating trans fat labeling of foods.

Food use and health effects of soybean and sunflower oils

This review provides a scientific assessment of current knowledge of health effects of soybean oil (SBO) and sunflower oil (SFO). SBO and SFO both contain high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (60.8 and 69%, respectively), with a PUFA:saturated fat ratio of 4.0 for SBO and 6.4 for SFO. SFO contains 69% C18:2n-6 and less than 0.1% C18:3n-3, while SBO contains 54% C18:2n-6 and 7.2% C18:3n-3. Thus, SFO and SBO each provide adequate amounts of C18:2n-6, but of the two, SBO provides C18:3n-3 with a C18:2n-6:C18:3n-3 ratio of 7.1. Epidemiological evidence has suggested an inverse relationship between the consumption of diets high in vegetable fat and blood pressure, although clinical findings have been inconclusive. Recent dietary guidelines suggest the desirability of decreasing consumption of total and saturated fat and cholesterol, an objective that can be achieved by substituting such oils as SFO and SBO for animal fats. Such changes have consistently resulted in decreased total and low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, which is thought to be favorable with respect to decreasing risk of cardiovascular disease. Also, decreases in high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol have raised some concern. Use of vegetable oils such as SFO and SBO increases C18:2n-6, decreases C20:4n-6, and slightly elevated C20:5n-3 and C22:6n-3 in platelets, changes that slightly inhibit platelet generation of thromboxane and ex vivo aggregation. Whether chronic use of these oils will effectively block thrombosis at sites of vascular injury, inhibit pathologic platelet vascular interactions associated with atherosclerosis, or reduce the incidence of acute vascular occlusion in the coronary or cerebral circulation is uncertain. Linoleic acid is needed for normal immune response, and essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency impairs B and T cell-mediated responses. SBO and SFO can provide adequate linoleic acid for maintenance of the immune response. Excess linoleic acid has supported tumor growth in animals, an effect not verified by data from diverse human studies of risk, incidence, or progression of cancers of the breast and colon. Areas yet to be investigated include the differential effects of n-6- and n-3-containing oil on tumor development in humans and whether shorter-chain n-3 PUFA of plant origin such as found in SBO will modulate these actions of linoleic acid, as has been shown for the longer-chain n-3 PUFA of marine oils.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Analysis of lipid composition and morphological characteristics in soybean regenerants

A study was conducted to examine the extent of somaclonal variation of soybean plants, Glycine max (L.) Merrill cv. 'McCall', regenerated via somatic embryogenesis from cultured immature cotyledons using two different protocols. The sexual progeny of regenerants were compared with normal, seed-derived populations for morphological characteristics and fatty acid composition of seeds. First generation progeny of regenerants showed greater phenotypic variation than the control population, but this variation was not observed in the second generation. No stable somaclonal variants for fatty acid composition of the seed oil or morphological characteristics were observed, indicating that this somatic embryogenesis system should be adaptable for transformation with minimal generation of unwanted variation.

Soy flavor and its improvement

A highly characteristic and often undesirable flavor associated with soy protein materials largely explains the slower-than-expected progress over recent years in the development of high-protein foods based on soya. Apart from the inherent flavor of the bean, different flavors are produced on processing and on storage. Major problems are the absence of an attractive positive flavor, the presence of off-flavors of several kinds, the tenacious binding of such flavors to the soy protein molecules, and the difficulties of removing and/or masking these unacceptable qualities. This review provides a reappraisal of current literature evidence relating to each of these aspects and summarizes published patents of processes for soy flavor improvement.