With bad reputation shoved aside, demand for the ingredient is growing.

21/08/2005 Washington, D.C. (REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU )- A foodingredient that got a reputation in the 1980s as bad for the heart iscoming back to cookies and other products.

Food makers like Kraft Foods that are scrambling to get artery-cloggingtrans fats out of their products are replacing partially hydrogenatedsoybean oil with palm oil, a product of Southeast Asia.

Palm oil has been widely used outside of the United States for years. Butnow you can find it in products as varied as Nabisco Golden Oreos, ChipsAhoy cookies and Devonsheer crackers. Palm oil also is showing up in candybars, including Snickers, Milky Way and Butterfinger, and in health-foodbrands like Whole Foods and Arrowhead Mills.

The reason? Starting in January, food labels must start disclosing thetrans fat content, the same way they now disclose other fats, cholesterol,sugar and protein.

The change is important to Iowa, which is annually one of the top twoproducers of soybeans. And the state has several companies involved in thebusiness of using soy oil for food - ranging from seed company PioneerHi-Bred International in Des Moines to food manufacturer Mrs. Clark'sFoods in Ankeny.

Like red meat, butter and cheese, palm oil is high in saturated fat - theroot of its bad reputation. But unlike partially hydrogenated soybean oil,palm oil contains no trans fats.

It also is cheaper than soybean oil and, because it is a semi-solidproduct, provides the pleasing mouth feel needed for cookies, crackers andpastries, experts say.

"Basically, we've demonized trans fats and we're ignoring saturated fatsfor the moment," said Richard Galloway, a consultant to the soybeanindustry. "Therefore, you find palm oil being used to replace partiallyhydrogenized oil."

The IOI Group, one of the world's largest suppliers of palm oil, isdoubling its U.S. capacity to serve the growing demand.

"Obviously a lot of years ago there has been a big anti-palm oil movementin the United States," said Wilko-Jan Balkema, an official with theMalaysia-based company.

But "if palm oil becomes an accepted raw material in terms of image - thenobviously, like you see in Europe, palm oil could become a stable suitablealternative."

Some consumer advocates say that the food industry is trading one badingredient for another.

"Anything is an improvement from trans fats," said Michael Jacobson of theCenter for Science in the Public Interest.

Palm oil is not as bad as hydrogenated oil, but it is "not the kind ofthing we should be eating," he said.

Both saturated fats and trans fats can increase the risk for heartdisease. Both types of fat increase the levels of bad, or LDL,cholesterol. Trans fats, which form when vegetable oil is hydrogenated,also decrease levels of good, or HDL, cholesterol.

Brian Olshansky, an expert on heart disease and fats at the University ofIowa, said palm oil got a bad rap.

"Saturated fat has been associated with (heart) problems, but when youcompare it to the risk of trans fats it's a substantial difference," hesaid.

The government's 2005 dietary guidelines recommend consumers limitsaturated fats to no more than 10 percent of their total calories and eatas little trans fat as possible.

"The overall goal for our companies is to reduce trans and saturated fatswhenever possible," said Stephanie Childs, a spokeswoman for the GroceryManufacturers Association.

In a recent report called "Cruel Oil," Jacobson's group also alleged thatthe increasing production of palm oil is destroying rain forests inMalaysia and Indonesia and threatening critical wildlife habitat. Ifglobal demand for palm oil doubles by 2020 as has been forecast, anadditional 1,160 square miles will have to be planted every year, thereport said.

Balkema said palm oil production accounts for 5 percent of the annualdeforestation in Malaysia.

Soybean oil still dominates the U.S. market. Companies use 2.5 billionpounds annually. Malaysia doubled its exports of tropical oils to theUnited States between 2002 and 2004 and shipments continue to grow,totaling $142 million in the first half of this year.

Palm oil sells for about one-third less than soybean oil on the worldmarket.

Some food makers have switched to canola and corn oil for uses like snackchips. Scientists at Iowa State University and Des Moines-based PioneerHi-Bred International also have developed new soybean varieties that couldfill part of the demand for trans-fee oils.

The new varieties are low in linolenic acid, so the oil doesn't needhydrogenation for many uses.

About 150,000 acres of low-linolenic soybeans were planted this year,mostly in Iowa and Michigan, enough to produce about 60 million to 65million pounds of oil, said Galloway. Next year, production could increaseby 5 to 10 times, he said.

Soybean farmers don't want to lose the valuable market that they corneredafter palm oil fell out of favor.

"I don't feel threatened by palm oil, but I feel concerned," said KentGronlie, a Northwood, N.D., farmer who is on the United Soybean Board'sexecutive committee. "We want to make sure we meet our customer's demand."