Nutrition Information: Super Soy Beans

Posted on | July 15, 2010 | 3 Comments

 

Soy Bean or Soya Bean refer to the exact same thing! The beans are native to East Asia and belong to the Legumes/ oilseed family and grow on plants. The beans are harvested, de-hulled, ground and cooked before pressed to produce soy milk.

You can check out this link for DIY version:  http://www.soya.be/how-to-make-soy-milk.php

There are fermented and non fermented soy bean products.  Miso, soy sauce and tempeh are fermented soy bean products, whereas soy milk, tofu and bean curd are non fermented soy bean products

Most Singaporeans absolutely adore Soy Bean products especially soy milk; It’s part of their everyday diet and it’s not only beneficial for health and good for weight loss butbest of all – it tastes great.

Special Soy Power

Protein:  Protein is excellent for people looking to lose weight as it keeps you feeling fuller for longer.  Soy bean is an excellent source of high quality protein containing all the essential amino acids.  It contains 40% protein, 35% carbohydrates, 20% oil and 5% ash.

Protein Digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) is the gold standard used for over 20 years to measure protein quality. This score measures the Biological value of how well nitrogen from protein is absorbed on a scale from 1 to 100%. Soy protein is much more easily absorbed compared to animal protein and without the additional fat. Hence, it’s an important source of protein for vegan, vegetarian and people whom are lactose intolerant. Important to note:  There is a small percentage (1 in 3000 people) that are allergic to soy.

Here is the Protein Digestibility Score:

Whey Protein                                    100%

Casein                                                98%

Egg white                                    97%

Whole soybean                        96%

Soybean milk                                    91%

Beef Protein                                    80%

Fish Protein                                    76%

Soybean protein isolate            74%

Care for the heart:  Soybean also contains a significant amount of alpha-linolenic acid, isoflavones genistein, daidzein and also phytic acid.

●      Alpha-linolenic acid is an essential omega 3 fatty acids which protects the heart attributes to its anti-inflammatory properties

●      Research suggests that Isoflavones genistein and daidzein derived from soy helps to increase blood vessels flexibility, reduces total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and prevents plaque build up in arteries.

Prevent cancers?  Soy contains the highest levels of phytoestrogen (Plant compounds that mimic oestrogen – female hormone); Isoflavones genistein and daidzein.

●      Several studies have indicated that a regular intake of soy foods may help to prevent hormone related cancers such as breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer.

●      Relieve menopausal symptoms including hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, vaginal dryness and other discomforts.

●      However, there are also studies that suggest that these compounds are harmful to breast cancer patients.

So what is the easiest way to consume soybean to reap its health benefits?  Just drink it!  However in order to achieve the full health effects of soy mention earlier, it must meet the following criteria:

●      6.25 grams or more soy protein

●      Low fat (less than 3 grams)

●      Low saturated fat (less than 1 gram)

●      Low cholesterol (less than 20 mg)

Lets us compare some the different brands available in the market (250 ml)

Drinkho	Nutrisoy – Original	Nutrisoy – Omega 3, reduced sugar	Nutrisoy – High Calcium, no sugar, omega 3	Marigold High Calcium Fresh Soya Milk
Calories 130	Calories 143	Calories 52	Calories 98	Calories 140
Carbohydrate 20	Carbohydrate 17	Carbohydrate 5.6	Carbohydrate 4.5	Carbohydrate 17
Protein 3	Protein 10	Protein 4	Protein 10	Protein 9
Fat 0	Fat 3.8 (Sat fat 1g)	Fat 1.5 (Sat fat 0.3g)	Fat 4.5 (Sat fat 0.5g)	Fat 4.3 (Sat fat 1g)
Cholesterol 0	Cholesterol 0	Cholesterol 0	Cholesterol 0	Cholesterol 0

Silk Organic Plain Soy milk	Silk Organic unsweetened soy milk	Sobe Fresh Soya Milk Trim
Calories 100	Calories 80	Calories 148
Carbohydrate 8	Carbohydrate 4	Carbohydrate 16
Protein 7	Protein 7	Protein 9.5
Fat 4 (Sat fat 0.5g)	Fat 4 (Sat fat 0.5g)	Fat 5 (Sat fat 0.8g)
Cholesterol 0	Cholesterol 0	Cholesterol 0

P.s The health promotion board healthier choice logo can sometimes be misleading, learn to read the food labels as well as the ingredients list.

Though the packaged soy milk’s are enriched with vitamins, calcium and omega 3, I recommend fresh soy drinks that are freshly make daily. They are free of preservatives and made from real soy beans and not extract.

Interesting Soy Milk Shake varieties!

In Singapore you can find some healthy and interesting varieties of Soy Bean drinks and products.  Mr Bean has Soy Chendol / TCC has the Azuki red bean freeze / Jollibean now has Jfreeze (soy blended drinks) e.g. Matcha or Chocolate blended soy drinks

Given the goodness of soybean, it’s only natural that creative and healthy new flavours are now available.  Many restaurants and health food chains have came up with soy blended drinks, replacing milk or coconut milk.

However, these drinks are loaded with empty sugar calories from tapioca pearls, azuki red beans, sugar syrup, chocolate flavoured extract etc to make them taste yummy!  I must admit, it’s very hard to find actual nutrition information for each of the varieties available –  but if you follow this advice when you order your Soy Bean drink you should be ok:

How to Make Healthier Choices:

If you are looking to gain the super health power of soy bean without gaining excess calories, go for the plain and simple soy milk without or less sugar syrup.

But if you find them boring, the soy milk based fruit smoothie is a better choice than a chocolate blended frappe. They contains vitamins, minerals and fibre to provide a more balance nutrition.

Always ask for less sugar or no sugar, avoid tapioca pearls and additional red beans and try to limit to only 1 soy drink per day.  Enjoy!!

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