HEALTHY CORN
September 6, 2003
The Associated Press
Emily Gersema
WASHINGTON -- A new breed of corn that mixes the conventional seed with a
bright-blooming relative offers, according to this story, the promise of
helping prevent clogged arteries and reducing harmful cholesterol.
The story says that corn oil and other food products with this heart-healthy
strain as an ingredient could appear on supermarket shelves within four
years. The breakthrough after 10 years of research could lead plant breeders
to develop other healthy varieties such as popcorn and yellow sweet corn.
The story explains that scientists bred corn with Eastern gama grass, a
purple or orange-bloomed plant, and came up with a corn high in oleic fatty
acid -- a type of unsaturated fat that raises levels of good cholesterol to
prevent arteries from clogging.
Susan Duvick, a plant biologist at the Agriculture Department who led the
project, was cited as saying that conventional corn contains about 20
percent oleic acid and 60 percent polyunsaturated fat, which is considered
healthy by nutritionists though not as beneficial as oleic. Conventional
corn also has 10 percent of the harmful saturated fat.
The new corn lines contain less polyunsaturated fat -- just 20 percent --
while the oleic acid content climbs to 70 percent, said Duvick, who works in
the department's Agricultural Research Service. The new breed still contains
10 percent saturated fat.