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An important aspect of the safety assessment of genetically modified crops to be used for human food and animal feed is the product composition, including nutrients and antinutrients. Cotton lines have been developed that are tolerant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup. The glyphosate-tolerant lines were generated by the stable insertion of a glyphosate tolerance gene in a common variety of cotton. The glyphosate tolerance gene encodes for 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) from Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4 (CP4 EPSPS). The composition of the cottonseed and oil from two glyphosate-tolerant lines (GTCot), 1445 and 1698, was compared to that of the parental variety Coker 312 and to published values for other commercial cotton varieties. The nutrients measured in the cottonseed were protein, fat, fiber, carbohydrate, calories, moisture, ash, amino acids, and fatty acids. The antinutrients measured in the cottonseed included gossypol, cyclopropenoid fatty acids, and aflatoxin. In addition, the fatty acid profile and α-tocopherol levels were measured in the refined oil. These analyses demonstrated that the glyphosate-tolerant cotton lines are compositionally equivalent and as safe and nutritious as the parental and conventional cotton varieties commercially available. Keywords: Cotton; genetically modified; herbicide tolerant; Roundup

This study's purpose was to evaluate the fasting human plasma lipid and lipoprotein responses to dietary beef fat (BF) by comparison with coconut oil (CO) and safflower oil (SO), fats customarily classified as saturated and polyunsaturated. Nineteen free-living normolipidemic men aged 25.6 +/- 3.5 yr consumed centrally-prepared lunches and dinners of common foods having 35% fat calories, 60% of which was the test fat. The test fats were isocalorically substituted, and each fed for five weeks in random sequences with intervening five weeks of habitual diets. Plasma total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations among individuals follows the same relative rank regardless of diet. Triglycerides (TG) concentrations among individuals also maintain their relative rank regardless of diet but in a different order from that of the cholesterols. Plasma TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C responses to BF were significantly lower and TG higher than to CO. As compared to SO, BF produced equivalent levels of TG, HDL-C, and LDL-C and marginally higher TC. Thus, the customary consideration of BF as "saturated" and grouping it with CO appears unwarranted.

Cotton plants have been developed that control the major lepidopteran insect pests of cotton by the stable introduction of a gene encoding an insecticidal protein from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki. These plants provide season-long protection against cotton bollworm, tobacco budworm, and pink bollworm. An important component of the safety and product assessment of these lines was the comparison of the nutrient and antinutrient levels in the seed both to the parental variety and to published values for other commercial cotton varieties. Compositional equivalence confirms the appropriateness of these cotton lines for use in food and feed products. The insect-protected lines and the parental control were shown to contain levels of nutrients comparable to those of other commercial varieties. Nutrients included protein, fat, carbohydrate, moisture, ash, amino acids, and fatty acids. The levels of the antinutrients gossypol, cyclopropenoid fatty acids, and aflatoxin in the seed from the insect-protected lines were similar to or lower than the levels present in the parental variety and reported for other commercial varieties. These analyses demonstrate that seed from the insect-protected cotton lines is compositionally equivalent to and as nutritious as seed from the parental and other commercial cotton varieties.