Why Soy is called the ‘miracle bean’?
- Soybean is one of the nature’s wonderful nutritional gifts. It is one of the very few plants that provide a high quality protein with minimum saturated fat.
- Soybeans help people feel better and live longer, enhancing the quality of life. Soybeans contain all three of the macronutrients required for good nutrition, as well as fibre, vitamins and minerals.
- Soybean protein provides all the essential amino acids in the amounts needed for human health. Soybeans have almost 40% protein, making soybeans higher in protein than any other legumes and many animal products. Protein in just 250 grams of soybean is equivalent to the protein in 3 litres of milk or 1kg of mutton or 24 eggs. The quality of soy protein is virtually equivalent in quality to that of milk and egg protein. Unlike many other good sources of protein, soybeans not only have a higher percentage of oil but also fatty acid.
- It has low saturated fat content with a high amount of essential fatty acids. Soybean oil is also rich in omega-3 and 6 fatty acids similar to those found in fish oils and is cholesterol free.
- Soybeans are an excellent source of dietary fibre with both soluble and insoluble fibre. Soluble fibre may help lower serum cholesterol and control blood sugar. Insoluble fibres increases stool bulk, may prevent colon cancer and cab help relieve symptoms of some digestive disorders.
- Soybeans has more than two times the amount of most of the minerals; especially calcium, iron, phosphorus and zinc; than any other legume and is very low in sodium content.
- Soybean has all the important vitamins and is a very good source B complex vitamins and Vitamin E.
Soybean and health benefits
- In addition to containing good quality nutrients, a soybean has other beneficial compounds such as phytosterols (isoflavones), lechitin’s, etc.
- Soy foods have a number of health benefits such as, cancer prevention, cholesterol reduction, combating osteoporosis and menopause regulation.
- Human studies suggest that as little as one serving of soy foods each day may be protective against many types of cancer.
- For the past 30 years, investigators have shown that consumption of soy protein selectively decreases total and LDL (bad) cholesterol and maintains HDL (good) cholesterol in individuals with elevated blood cholesterol levels.
- United States Food and Drug Administration have issued a health claim for Soy protein in October of 1999. The health claim states “consumption of 25gms of soy protein per day with a diet low in saturated fat may lower the risk of heart diseases”.
- Another important aspect of soy protein is combating osteoporosis and relieving menopause symptoms. One factor in bone health is limiting the amount of calcium lost from the body.