Health Impact News Editor Comments: Producers of GM crops have come up with even more new ways to get GM soy into your diet: change the fatty acid structure to include Omega 3 fatty acids to eliminate your need to get them from fish! It is called “SDA-enriched soy.” The new GM soy contains “stearidonic acid.” The reasoning for this new GM soy: “This fatty acid can provide fish oil’s heart and other health benefits – without the fishy taste.” Sound far-fetched? Not at all. The FDA has already granted it GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe) status. All that is left is approval to plant this new GM breed of soy. Be forewarned that the article referenced below is pro-soy and pro-GMO.
Quotes:
Right now, the only sources of EPA and DHA are marine micro-algae and the fish that move these algal fats up the food chain. “As the availability of fish decreases, we’ve got to think of other sources for omega-3 fatty acids,” says Richard Deckelbaum, director of Columbia University’s Institute of Human Nutrition in New York City.
That’s yet another reason why Kennedy says of SDA: “I hope it’s on the market soon.”
And it will be, probably by 2012, says nutritionist Ratna Mukherjea with Solae in St. Louis. Her company plans to market foods fortified with SDA.
The commercial ag giant Monsanto inserted genes for two enzymes – one derived from a flower (Primula juliae), the other from a red bread mold (Neurospora crassa) – into a line of soybeans. Although some people object to the biotech manipulation of genes in food crops, this is far from the first genetic manipulation of soy, Deckelbaum observes. Already, he points out, some 70 percent of ordinary U.S. soybeans are genetically modified for some trait or another.
The two enzymes Monsanto has just added to soy effectively turn the legume’s oil into a proto fish oil.
Last year, FDA granted GRAS status to SDA-enriched soy, so Solae now can legally incorporate the oil into foods. But there remains a wrinkle. FDA has not yet granted Monsanto permission to grow this genetically modified line of soybeans in open fields. That’s expected next year.
Read the Full Article here: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/72501/title/Fishy_fat_from_soy_is_headed_for_U.S._dinner_tables