GLYCINE MAXSOYBEANS have been cultivated in China for at least 5,000 years, but in America they’ve been grown in quantity only since World War II, when they were used as a meat extender during wartime rationing. About that time, margarine (which is frequently made with soybean oil) also came on the scene as a supposedly healthy butter substitute.
Nowadays, soybeans are used in all sorts of food products to add nutrition and texture, and as extenders. They’re grown across the United States as part of a typical corn-and-beans crop rotation that supports dairy and meat production farms, concentrated mainly in the Midwest.
THE ORGANIC FACTOR
Most American soybeans are produced using a wide range of agricultural chemicals, and genetic engineers have been working on them, too. Under organic production, they are usually grown as part of a crop rotation that includes grains like wheat or oats, corn, and forage legumes like alfalfa. By only growing soybeans every third or fourth season, the life cycles of many soybean pests are interrupted.
NUTRITION
Soybeans are fabulously nutritious, containing 30 to 50 percent protein, more than any other plant product and more than most meat. But because they are legumes, the protein is not complete (that is, it doesn’t contain all the essential amino acids). Eating soybeans with rice or whole grain pasta will make a complete protein, however. Good amounts of the B vitamins and minerals complete the nutritional package.
Higher intake of soy foods has been linked with reduced incidence of heart disease and some forms of cancer. Studies on humans have established that soy consumption is significantly associated with reduced levels of blood cholesterol.
Epidemiological data show that consumption of soy is particularly associated with reduced risk of breast, lung, and prostate cancers, as well as leukemia. Menopausal problems, including osteoporosis, are favorably affected by consumption of soy isoflavones, making soybeans especially beneficial for women. Hot flashes are significantly reduced in some women who consume soy isoflavones either as soy products or supplements. Studies show that the isoflavone daidzein has demonstrated a significant ability to prevent osteoporosis in both animals and humans.
In addition to these very significant health benefits, soybeans lack the glycosides that can be so harmful when raw common beans (Phaseolus) are eaten. They do, however, contain a trypsin inhibitor. To inhibit the enzyme trypsin is to inhibit the body’s ability to utilize proteins. But there’s conflicting medical opinion on whether this is significant, especially at the level of soybean ingestion in the American diet. The trypsin inhibitor is destroyed by one hour of boiling before simmering. Anyway, there’s no quarrel about soybeans’ anticancer properties, which have been shown in many tests on lab animals.
USES
In their whole form, soybeans remain tough even after long cooking. They have a bitter, beany flavor that’s not very appealing, and they’re not very digestible due to the trypsin inhibitor, which prevents much of their nutritional value from being absorbed by the body.
So in areas of the world where soybeans are a staple—Indonesia, China, Korea, Japan—people have learned ways of processing the beans to render them tasty and digestible. They are processed into nutritious milk, which can be used as a milk substitute or processed further into cheese-like tofu. The whole beans can be inoculated with a mold that predigests them, producing tempeh.
Tempeh is a fermented food made by the controlled fermentation of cooked soybeans with a starter of Rhizopus mold. The fermentation binds the soybeans into a compact white cake. ....read more
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