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Soy products offer benefits, drawbacks |
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Thursday, 29 November 2007 |
by JULIA HARR
Lifestyles Reporter
It starts as a small bean and turns into milk, candles, polish, crayons and an assortment of other household items and food.
This little bean has such a complex structure that it’s useful for hundreds of unsuspected items.
The soybean is responsible for providing vegetarians, vegans and lactose intolerant people everywhere with necessary nutrients and non-dairy products.
“Soy contains complete proteins, meaning they have all the necessary
amino acids,” said foods and nutrition professor Lisa McAnulty. “These
are similar to the proteins found in meat products.”
Because of its usefulness, new discoveries and products are constantly being made about the soybean.
Soy products contain isoflavones (Genistein and Daidzein), a class of
phytoestrogens. McAnulty said these elements have shown cancer-fighting
properties for breast and prostate cancer, as well as heart disease and
osteoperosis.
“The earlier you start, the better,” McAnulty said. “Soy benefits are
much more apparent in those who started consuming soy at a young age.”
 Numerous soy products, such as soy milk, yogurt, and “meat” are available at EarthFare, located on King Street. Photo by Anna Donlan
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Many people start consuming soy products when they make a lifestyle change to be vegetarian or vegan.
“At one point I was vegan and started using soy products and liked them
so much that I’ve stuck with them,” freshman foods and nutrition major
Margaret W. Posson said.
“Consumption of soy protein provides health benefits that may help
prevent or treat certain chronic diseases. Currently, a great deal of
research is being conducted to investigate possible health benefits of
soy,” according to soybean.org.
McAnulty said that much of the research is focused on the onset of soy product consumption for effective benefits.
Soy is most effective when 25 grams of soy protein and 50-100 mg of isoflavones are consumed daily.
While soy foods do have health benefits, they also have risks, said McAnulty.
“We know some women need to be careful because they have high risks for
certain types of estrogen sensitive cancers, like some types of breast
cancer. This is a small pocket population.” McAnulty said. “Soy has
estrogen-like properties.”
Students can find soy rich products on and off campus.
“I get my soy products from Earth Fare and Ingles,” Posson said. “Soy milk and soy dogs are my favorites.”
“Tofu is good, but only if it’s cooked right or it tastes like a whole
lot of nothing,” senior psychology major and vegetarian Smeeta A.
Lavani said. “I would compare tofu to eggs.”
“A lot of times a lot of restaurants substitute tofu for meat on their
vegetarian menus. It’s a good source of protein, which I don’t get a
lot of with a vegetarian diet,” she said.
Students can find a wide variety of soy products at Earth Fare and other grocery stores off campus.
On campus, The Market, The Lite Side and all of the coffee shops offer soy alternatives.
“We do have tofu, which is made out of soy, so is tempeh. Both are
available on the Lite Side,” assistant director of Welborn Cafeteria
Art F. Kessler said. “We also fry in a soybean oil that has zero
transfat. We use tempeh and tofu as meat replacement for vegetarians.”
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