“Let me just say this,” quipped Bill Clinton on the eve of his heart surgery. “Republicans aren’t the only people who want four more years here.”
I know exactly how the guy feels. Like the former president, I have gone under the knife for a quadruple-bypass operation. I got my four more years--and I hope to get plenty more besides. I hope Bill Clinton does as well.
But these last four years haven’t been the same as the ones that came before my procedure. I’m much more careful about what I eat these days: lots of whole grain, extra fish, less red meat (and this from a pork producer). Most important, I’m eating less overall. As they say, diets are for people who are thick and tired of it.
Let me be clear, I don’t enjoy this. You can’t name anything I don’t like to eat. When it comes to food, I’m a big fan of variety. That means I’m the victim of constant temptation.
And that’s why I’m so appreciative of the latest development in soybean technology, which may reduce or eliminate trans-fatty acids in processed soybean oil. Trans fats are associated with heart disease because they lower “good” cholesterol and raise “bad” cholesterol. The public already is becoming familiar with the concept of trans-fats, and that familiarity will only increase. Starting on January 1, 2006--well within Bill Clinton’s next “term”--the Food and Drug Administration will require all food products to carry information about trans-fats on their nutrition labels.
The technical name for this development is the low-linolenic soybean. But I’m going to call it the heart-healthy soybean, because that’s what it really is--and that’s why it will be successful.
We’re coming closer to the day when the public embraces genetically modified food, because consumers soon will see how biotech products directly improve their health and lives. Up to now, most of the benefits associated with biotech crops have accrued to producers. The top consumer benefit has been price, though grocery-store shoppers generally don’t understand what role it has played in helping them save money at the cash register.
It was recently announced that the first heart-healthy soybean will be available for the 2005 growing season. Most soybeans contain 8 percent linolenic acid; this new variety will contain less than 3 percent. (Future versions probably will contain even smaller amounts: In Denmark, processed oils and fats aren’t allowed to contain more than 2 percent trans-fat acids.)
This initial product will be a genetically modified only in one familiar way - it will be herbicide-resistant, as are the vast majority of soybeans grown in the United States. The Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology recently reported that American farmers, once again, planted several million more acres of genetically enhanced soybeans this year, boosting the share of U.S. soybeans that are genetically modified from 81 percent last year to 85 percent now.
In the future, however, the heart-healthy component of soybeans will be a direct result of biotech ingenuity. In the decade ahead, we’re going to see a series of heart-healthy soybeans enter the marketplace--and the most attractive ones will derive their finest qualities from genetic enhancements.
Soybeans won’t be our only source of heart healthy attributes. Improved canola oil, virtually trans fat-free and registering the lowest in saturated fat of any vegetable oil, is readily available to restaurants, food service and food manufacturers today. Using this highly stable canola oil, manufacturers can reduce the amount of trans and saturated fat in a typical serving of crackers by as much as 80 percent.
Over the next couple of weeks, soybean farmers will be focused on their harvest--a slightly late one this year, at least here in Iowa, because of the cool weather. In October and November, however, they’ll start to think about buying seed for next year. They’ll make judgments about what worked and didn’t work for them this year, and determine their strategies for 2005.
My hunch is that a lot of us will want to plant the heart-healthy soybeans. I gather that the seed supply will be plentiful, but perhaps not enough to meet the demand. That means farmers will have to pay a premium for it. And many of them will, because farmers feel good about growing food that people want--and the desire for this product is going to be strong.
Something tells me that when Bill Clinton is up and about, he’s going to get in line.
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“Let me just say this,” quipped Bill Clinton on the eve of his heart surgery. “Republicans aren’t the only people who want four more years here.”
