Our friends at Monsanto have been busy genetically engineering a new version of their GM soybean. This one will be healthier for the consumer as it is engineered to produce oil that is lower in saturated fat than “real” soybeans.
The soybean industry has suffered a drop in demand for edible soybeans since 2005 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began requiring labels that list the amount of trans fats. When the soybean oil is refined and hydrogenated, it creates unhealthy trans fats.
As you probably know, conventional medical associations finally recognize that trans fats are associated with coronary heart disease, but they still have not acknowledged that saturated fat is innocent. As real foodies know, saturated fat from grass fed animals is a necessary component of a healthy diet.
This new soybean product, called Vistive Gold, has been approved by the FDA and is awaiting approval by the USDA.
The soybean industry suffered a drop in their share of the food oil market from 83% to 68% when the labeling requirements were enacted. Over a three year period 4.6 billion pounds of edible soybean oil was turned into biodiesel instead of food. Farmers get less money for biodiesel.
The industry is ecstatic over this new product as it can command more money per bushel and it may be marketed as being healthier. Other genetically modified soybeans were engineered to be resistant to pesticides and disease. This is the first engineered product to be thought (or will be marketed) as healthier.
Aside from the problems with soy, there are many other reasons to avoid soy like the plague whether it is genetically modified or organic.
Joe Cornelius, a Monsanto project manager who has worked on the Vistive soybeans for the past 15 years said it could produce french fries with 60% less saturated fat. They are constantly on the saturated fat is bad bandwagon. I just shudder thinking about the potential problems with this new “product” in fast food deep fryers under high heat, creating free radicals and highly toxic byproducts in those wonderful french fries…
Bill Freese, a science policy analyst with the Center for Food Safety said,
Vistive Gold and other engineered crops don’t face rigorous enough testing. No animal feeding trials were conducted on the new soybean to see what would happen when it was consumed… the FDA approved it based on the agency’s review of a similar soybean produced by another company, not an actual review of Vistive Gold… that struck me as very odd.
Without proper scrutiny, genetically modified crops have a high potential for harmful and unintended consequences, such as increased toxicity that could make someone sick or decreased nutritional content.
Not every genetically modified crop is going to be dangerous. The bottom line is we need to have a really stringent regulatory system, which we currently don’t have.
Monsanto said it tested Vistive Gold extensively and found it to be safe. Right.
Who are you going to believe? Leave a comment and let me know!
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Definitely NOT Monsanto!!!!
Gracious! So with LESS saturated fat, the oil will consequently be LESS stable and produce MORE transfats and be MORE oxidized when subjected to heat (as in deep frying)! So while it will have less stabilizing SATURATED fat, it will have MORE unhealthy, TRANSFATS when it is used in cooking (and contribute more to heart disease, cancer, and inflammation)! So it is an UNhealthier soybean marketed dishonestly (and unscientifically) as healthier! GM safety aside, the fatty acid profile is plain ol’ less desirable for cooking!
I like the way you put it!
The whole thing is mind blowing. Genetically modified better for our bodies. Who believes that?!
I’m with France on this one. Even if it is found to be safe and is granted GRAS status is unlikely to be anything it is purported to be. Anyone remember Celebrex? Fen/Phen? Thalidamide? Olestra? Thanks, but no thanks. I’m stickin’ with lard.
Hi Melissa,
I second that!
Great. It’s going to be even -harder- now to find organic, non-GMO soybeans! I don’t eat a lot of soy products these days, but a good homemade tofu is hard to resist having a couple of times a month. Sure, it’s time consuming – but it’s so much better (and hopefully better for me) than the store bought stuff.
Down with MonSatan! And of course the FDA is going to give just about anything MonSatan puts out with GRAS status, what with Michael Taylor, “senior advisor to the commissioner,” having been a former MonSatan executive! They’re not even trying to be subtle with their lobbying and conflicts of interests these days. The days the FDA had any real value to US citizens is well past and gone. If they had our interests at heart, it wouldn’t have taken so very, very long to practically pull Avandia and other drugs from the market.
Hope you are having a great week end and thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come back soon!
Miz Helen
Great information.
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasure’s Whole Health Weekend Link-Up.
Check back on Friday when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts!