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8 THE RURAL VOICE
Scrap Book
U.S. approves soy health claim labels
In a move Canadian soybean
industry officials hope will be
mirrored in Canada, the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration has authorized
the use of soybean health claims on
food products containing a minimum
of 6.25 grams of soy protein per
serving. It means these foods can now
be advertised as having potential to
reduce the risk of heart disease.
Chung-Ja Jackson of the University
of Guelph Centre for Functional
Foods hopes Canadian approval will
soon follow. "People here need to get
informed about how good soybeans
are for their health. If everybody knew
that eating soy can reduce the risk of
heart disease, the overall health of the
society and its quality of life could
improve," she said. Consuming 25
grams of soy protein a day, the
amount contained in two glasses of
soymilk, can lower the risk of
developing heart disease, the leading
cause of death in both men and
women, she said.0
• — Source: Soy Source Newsletter
Ontario Soybean Marketing Board
New sunflower could change oil market
A new variety of sunflower, just approved for use in Canada, could change
the oilseed market.
The NuSun sunflower, marketed by Mycogen and Seeds 2000, produces an
oil 20 per cent lower in saturated fats than traditional sunflower oil. The oil does
not require hydrogenation, a process used in some canola and soybean oils to
extend shelf life, especially for frying. Hydrogenation creates transfatty acids
which boost levels of LDL cholesterol, the "bad" cholesterol contributing to
heart disease.
The new variety was developed through traditional breeding techniques, not
genetic modification. U.S. farmers already planted 450,000 acres of NuSun
sunflowers, says Jerry Wilson, a United States Department of Agriculture
sunflower breeder who helped create the new variety. Major seed companies
including Cargill say they will likely never release another traditional sunflower
variety, Miller told the annual meeting of the National Sunflower Association of
Canada in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.
Currently U.S. crushers are paying a 50 -cent per hundredweight premium for
the seed. A buyer for ADM in Decatur, Illinois told growers North America's
sunflower crop will need to double to meet demand for oil from the new variety.0
T Source: Western Producer
Exploring shade tolerance in plants
Winter is an expensive time in
Canada's greenhouse industry. Not
only must greenhouses be heated to
ward off bitter outside temperatures,
but some plants require expensive
additional light in order to grow. But
research at University of Guelph could
change that.
Some plants like lettuce and peas
and snapdragons and chrysanthemums
enhance their growth under low -light
conditions and a research program led
by professor Bernard Grodzinski is
trying to identify and understand the
genes that control photosynthesis, the
process that converts sunlight into
plant energy.
In one set of experiments,
researchers are inserting genes
associated with light assimilation
(photosynthesis) into the plants'
biochemistry. In other research, leaf
structure is being targeted to determine
how the leaf canopy architecture
affects light assimilation and how
carbon dioxide and oxygen exchange
affect the plant's growth and water and
nutrient demands.
Over the next five years the team
also hopes to engineer and assess
select crop species for their suitability
for the space program. These
genetically modified plants will be
grown at the university's Space and
Advanced Life Support Agriculture
laboratory and tested in greenhouses.0
— Source: University of Guelph
Research magazine