The official member magazine of AOCS
Published 10 times a year, INFORM magazine provides comprehensive reviews and original articles on such topics as:
- new analytical methods and technologies
- processing technologies that improve efficiency and sustainability
- health and nutrition
- formulation science
- critical business issues
- and many other topics
Each issue includes patent abstracts compiled by a registered US patent agent, journal references assembled by a team of experts in a variety of areas, and coverage of regulatory issues from around the globe.
Access to the full online version of INFORM magazine is only available to AOCS members. Join today for full access to INFORM.
Current issue - april 2026 (OPEN ACCESS)
The Rise of AI Assisted Process Automation
AI tools are being applied across every stage of edible oil production. Read about the latest real-time automation and sensor-integrated AI that optimize process parameters, provide virtual testing, or characterize feedstocks. AI is speeding up innovation, accelerating time-to-market, and saving energy resources, creating efficiency, sustainability, and profitability for the modern processing plant
When Disaster Strikes: Ensuring Safety in Oilseed Processing
When the unthinkable happens, personnel safety is the priority. After that a long list of procedures follows, like an incident investigation, before you can get the plant up and running again. Having a well-established and practiced Emergency Action Plan is critical to ensure a safe and rapid recovery. This article addresses the safety challenges associated with oilseed refineries and the proper steps to take in the event of an emergency.
Carbon Neutral Processing That Enhances the Nutritional Value of Meal
Global regulation changes concerning the treatment of animal feed have sparked new oilseed meal processing challenges. Some methods create an unwelcome reaction between the animal feed and the added reagent, while others involve excessive heat that causes protein to be less digestible, or an unevenly heated product. Read about how to protect oilseed meal and recover energy using moving bed heat exchangers while improving carbon intensity and sustainability in oilseeds operations.
Eco-Extraction a Viable Industrial Option
This story describes a comparison of soybean oil extraction using 2-methyloxolane, a biobased solvent, and hexane in a semi-industrial continuous multistage countercurrent extractor. In this trial, 2-MeOx yielded an oil richer in phenolic compounds than the hexane extracted oil resulting in higher oxidative stability. The authors describe extraction conditions along with other details about the resulting oils, and assess the scale-up potential of their experiment.
Open Access Issues
AOCS publishes open access issues periodically. You can view the latest issues here.
March 2026
The Fountain of Youth Could Be on Your Plate
This story describes research uncovering distinct metabolomic signatures linked to chronological aging, longevity, and mortality risk. With personalized nutrition and precision medicine on the rise, the findings have strong translational potential. The work emphasizes the need for carefully designed intervention trials targeting nutrient intake — especially omega-3 fatty acids — to slow aging processes and prevent the early onset of frailty.
Metabolic Factories: How Lipid and Gut Microbe Interactions Affect Our Health
This story covers research by J. Mark Brown at the Cleveland Clinic. His work shows that the impact of dietary PUFA intake on the lipidome, transcriptome, proteome, and global metabolome is highly dependent on the presence of gut microbes. By comparing germ-free and conventionally raised mice, the research demonstrates that microbe-driven metabolism of dietary PUFAs is required for beneficial remodeling of membrane phospholipids, oxylipin production, and suppression of cardiometabolic disease.
Interesterification: An Innovative Solution
Interesterified (IE) fats have been used to improve infant formula nutrition and to replicate cocoa butter. For decades, they have been viewed as healthier alternatives to trans or hydrogenated oils. However, recent legislation aims to warn consumers about them. This article provides an overview of nutrition studies that do not conclude any adverse health effects from consuming IE fats.
LLMs for Health Information
Researchers at the Joan Klein Jacobs Center for Precision Nutrition and Health at Cornell University developed a set of platforms that provide access to reputable health information. These large language models (LLMs) connect individuals to research they can apply directly to their work or daily lives, delivering online information that is evidence-based, trustworthy, and current. The researchers describe their achievement in this story.
September 2025
Decades of research, still many mysteries about omega-3 fatty acids
Who benefits the most from supplementing their diets with omega-3s, men or women? Do people with metabolic disorders actually see health benefits when they up their intake? These and many other questions about the essential fatty acids remain unanswered. In this article, researchers discuss recent studies that are improving our understanding of the unique interactions of omega-3s in different people.
Sourdough rises to take on food challenges
Sourdough bread has a reputation for easier digestion and a longer shelf life than other types of bread. Researchers characterized the influence of the starter culture’s microbiome on the metabolomic profile of its sourdough bread. They discovered that differences in a bread’s metabolomic profile translate into differences in antioxidant functionality. What are the implications of their findings for food preservation and human health?
Engineered oilseed crop produces high levels of powerful antioxidant
A research team altered the ketocarotenoid biosynthesis pathway of Camelina seeds so the plant would make more astaxanthin. Their study was a success and resulted in an extracted oil with high resistance to oxidation.
Recognizing the health benefits of plant-sourced omega-3
Recent studies show that stearidonic acid (SDA) may offer similar health benefits to eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), such as immune, joint, cognitive, and gut microbiome modulation. This article takes a glimpse at the new research exploring SDA and its potential to deliver human health benefits.
Myth-busting study shows controversial seed oils reduce inflammation
At a recent conference for the American Society of Nutrition, scientists presented findings from a study that found omega-6s from seed oils are good for cardiometabolic health. Read this article, based on their press release, to find out more about their study methods and conclusions.
INFORM SmartBrief
INFORM SmartBrief is a free weekly newsletter designed to keep you up to date on developing regulations, research, technology, and more. This e-newsletter is aggregated by an INFORM magazine staff writer, who sorts through the barrage of oils- and fats-related notifications to bring you only the most relevant news.
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