Agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. announced on June 13 that it has formed a joint venture with Kao Corporation, the Japanese consumer products maker, to make and sell cooking oil that has been shown to reduce body fat, Reuters reports. According to Kao Corp., Japanese studies have shown that diacylglycerol (DAG) oil, a naturally derived vegetable oil developed by Kao, can reduce triglyceride levels in the blood stream following a meal by as much as 50 per cent. The new joint venture will be called ADM Kao LLC, and will build a pilot plant this summer that the parties plan to have operational by November. The venture will be headquartered in Decatur, US, home of ADM. DAG oil, marketed under the name of Healthy Econa Oil, is sold in Japan since 1999. Kao Corp. claims that it has become one of the best-selling premium vegetable oil in the Japanese market. DAG oil is produced from vegetable oil by a process that substantially increases the diacylglycerol content of the oil. Diaglycerides in DAG oil are metabolised differently by the body than other types of oil. Instead of being stored as body fat, they are immediately burned as energy, ADM said. Source: Reuters
