Americans love peanuts. Americans spend almost $800 million a year on enough peanut butter to make 10 billion sandwiches, and six of the top 10 candy bars contain peanuts or peanut butter. The University of Florida (UF) is offering licenses for its heart healthy SunOleic 97R peanut that is high in oleic acid which aids in cholesterol reduction.
The key to SunOleic 97R's potential lies in its chemistry. It has more than 80 percent oleic fatty acid — compared with about 70 percent in olive oil and 50 percent in regular peanuts. Fatty acids are a major component in all oils, but it is the oleic form — found in largest quantities in olive and canola oils — that scientists believe make them healthy.
"This peanut has even more oleic acid than olive or canola oil," says Dan Gorbet, who developed the peanut at the North Florida Research and Education Center in Marianna, a part of the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. "Its health benefits, therefore, could potentially be better."
Using traditional breeding techniques of hybridization and pedigree selection, University of Florida peanut breeders have made a significant breakthrough by successfully breeding plants with highly valued oil chemistry. UF breeders have developed lines of peanut plants, SunOleic 97R Peanut, with higher oleic acid concentrations and lower linoleic acid concentrations. Lower linoleic acid concentrations benefit peanut processors by substantially increasing product shelf-life and higher oleic acid concentrations benefit consumers by reducing blood LDL cholesterol levels and increasing product flavor. Enhanced peanut chemistry is comparable to that of olive oil, which is highly valued by health conscious customers.
University of Florida peanut breeder Gorbet developed the variety called SunOleic 97R that is richer in heart-healthy oleic fatty acids than olive oil over a 40 year period without genetic manipulation. In addition, peanut growers should like SunOleic 97R because it yields more peanuts per acre and companies that use peanuts in their products should appreciate SunOleic 97R's longer shelf life.
SunOleic 97R has a greater yield, offering growers 10 to 14 percent more peanuts per acre than the industry standard, Florunner, which was also developed by UF in the late 1960s. In addition, SunOleic 97R offers a three- to 16-fold increase in the shelf life of the peanut
The quality of edible peanuts and peanut products is principally due to oil concentration and a fatty acid ratio. Extended shelf-life has long been associated with low linoleic acid concentrations. Recently, the demand for unsaturated fatty acids, such as oleic acid, has increased tremendously. The increased O/L ratio of our enhanced peanuts will provide extended shelf-life to manufacturers and decreased LDL blood cholesterol to consumers. The health conscious public will enthusiastically accept our enhanced peanuts.
A study published in the December 1999 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that diets higher in monounsaturated fat from peanuts, peanut butter, peanut oil and olive oil reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 21 percent compared to the average American diet, whereas a low-fat diet reduced the risk by only 12 percent.
The enhanced peanut is a suitable source for producing peanut foodstuff products, such aspeanut butter and confections, imbued with enhanced shelf-life and cholesterol reducing properties.
Advantages of the peanut include: Enhanced stability, exhibiting a ten-fold increase in shelf-life over conventional peanuts and peanut products, creating major savings to food manufacturers by reducing product recall; Cholesterol-reducing properties, lowering serum cholesterol in a fashion similar to diets low in fat, offering major marketing advantages and improved taste and texture.
Using traditional breeding techniques of hybridization and pedigree selection, University of
Florida peanut breeders have made a significant breakthrough by successfully breeding plants with highly valued oil chemistry. UF breeders have developed lines of peanut plants with higher oleic acid concentrations and lower linoleic acid concentrations. Lower linoleic acid concentrations benefit peanut processors by substantially increasing product shelf-life and higher oleic acid concentrations benefit consumers by reducing blood LDL cholesterol levels and increasing product flavor. Enhanced peanut oil chemistry is comparable to that of olive oil, which is highly valued by health conscious consumers.
If you are interested in licensing this technology please complete the non-exclusive license agreement. The peanut is protected by U.S. Patent 6,121,472.
For more information, please contact Bruce Clary, Assistant Director, UF Office of Technology Licensing, at (352) 392-6393 or bclary@ufl.edu
Documents
• Enhanced Peanut Plant Lines (pdf)
• Enhanced Peanut Oil (pdf)
• Enhanced Peanut and Foodstuffs (pdf)
• License Agreement (pdf)
