“It’s a healthier oil,” said Willie Wieck, 62, who started growing sunflowers on his 450 acres (180 hectares) in the early 1970s. He switched to the new hybrid seed called NuSun a couple of years ago. It’s free of unhealthy trans-fatty acids and increasingly is catching on as a cash crop.

“It’s certainly a brighter spot out there,” Wieck said.

NuSun is primarily sold to big food processors — not on grocery shelves — and it’s already used in some snack foods. Sunflower growers are counting on a big demand in the next few years thanks to new food labeling rules.

Beginning in 2006, food packages must say how much trans fat is in a product; the only labeling clue now is the mention of “hydrogenated oils.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the trans fat labeling requirement last year, saying the change could prevent up to 1,200 cases of heart disease and 500 deaths a year as people choose healthier foods or manufacturers change recipes.

Trans fats are found in vegetable shortenings, and in some margarines, crackers, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, baked goods, salad dressings and other processed foods.

Studies indicate trans fats contribute to higher levels of LDL cholesterol — the bad kind — which can raise the risk of coronary heart disease.

NuSun, which is not a genetically modified hybrid, was developed by federal scientists in North Dakota about eight years ago. Shortly after its introduction in 1998, consumers began eating chips and other snacks fried in the oil.

The seed didn’t get much fanfare at its introduction, mostly because there were not large quantities available, said John Sandbakken, a spokesman for the Bismarck, North Dakota-based National Sunflower Association.

Optimism about the NuSun marketplace got a boost with the FDA ruling and from results of a nutritional study by Penn State researchers that indicated that NuSun compared favorably with olive oil for health benefits.

The research also suggested the sunflower oil could help lower cholesterol levels.

The National Sunflower Association, which has trademarked NuSun, is conducting a survey that is expected to show about half the 1.9 million sunflower acres (760,000 hectares) planted in the United States this year are NuSun, executive director Larry Kleingartner said.

Before NuSun, sunflower growers had long been dependent on selling their oil in volatile markets overseas, exporting about 80 percent. Now, about 70 percent of the oil stays in the United States, Sandbakken said.