For example, Bunge Oils' (St. Louis) innovation does not stop at finding trans fat alternatives. The company's new business development team has created a new vegetable oil that is considered a nutraceutical. When added to food, nutraceutical ingredients have a positive impact on health, physical performance or mental well-being above their normal nutritional value.

Bunge's DELTA SL[tm] is a randomized triacylglycerol (TAG) blend of high oleic canola oil and medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) with added phytosterols. This mixture has been clinically proven to help consumers reduce their low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and maintain a healthy weight. Research shows the oil actually inhibits the body's ability to absorb cholesterol, and that the mediumchain triacylglycerol component allows for DELTA SL to be metabolized more rapidly than traditional vegetable oils.

“In our research with consumers, we found their nutritional concerns focused on lowering cholesterol and weight maintenance, but they still want their food to taste good,” said Roger Daniels, director, new business development with the company. “The result is DELTA SL, a product that is arguably healthier than olive oil, with the cooking and industrial processing performance of canola, soy and corn oils.”

According to Dilip Nakhasi, team manager, new product development, “In addition to metabolic benefits, TAG blends with MCTs may afford functional advantages over diacylglycerides (DAG) blends in that they have higher smoke points, greater oxidative stability and reduced viscosity. All three attributes are important for formulators that may be employing the oil for light-duty frying applications or as a tenderizing/lubricating medium in various processed food applications.”

Frank Kincs, director, shortening and oils research and development, shared that a critical design parameter in the process to DELTA SL commercialization was demonstrating phytosterol transfer into finished products under a variety of food applications. To this end, a variety of recipes from “savory to sweet” were evaluated in Bunge's applications laboratory. (See chart “Phytosterol Migration.”) Finished products formulated with DELTA SL delivered 160 to 410mg of phytosterol esters per food reference amount. This is important as intakes ranging from 150 to 300mg of phytosterols have been reported in scientific literature to reduce total cholesterol absorption by 12.1% to 27.9%, respectively.

“Bunge is working with several food and nutrition companies, including bottled oil companies, consumer packaged food companies, weight management and sports nutrition companies to explore adding DELTA SL oil to their products,” said Jim Anderson, manager, new product marketing and sales. “From pails to rail cars, Bunge Oils is your source for DELTA SL, the oil with the healthful benefits of olive oil and the cooking and processing functionality of traditional oils.”

For more information:
Bunge Oils North America, Roger Daniels
815-523-8152
roger.daniels@bunge.com, www.bunge.com