Greetings! In today’s class, we shall continue learning about soybeans.
Minerals: “Calcium is one of the most difficult things to get in any adequate quantity, in any low cost diet….Soybean flour is one of the cheapest sources of calcium.” This food is rich in all of the other essential minerals as well as those already mentioned.
Easily, Quickly Digested: “Soya flour does not act as a strong stimulant for gastric acidity, but is rather acid reducing, does not overburden the stomach, and does not affect the normal course of gastric motility. The digestion of soya protein goes remarkably rapid, and the soya meal leaves the stomach mostly in 2 1/2 to 3 hours, and in some cases even in 80 minutes.”
Digestibility of Protein, High: Not only is its protein easy to digest, but it is well digested so that it is nearly all used–from 80 to 97 percent; meaning that this percentage of the protein is made available for use in the body. The protein of soybean milk and of cow’s milk have been found to be 84.9% and 86.6%, respectively.
Raised With Less Effort and Soil Depletion: The soybean can be grown “with less expenditure of human and motor power, as well as with soil depletion” than other foods. “Considering it’s high and nutritional value, an acre planted in soybeans gives the largest and greatest yield of any single source of food known.”
Varieties: There are more than 2,000 distinct types of soybeans which have maturities ranging from 75 days to 200 days. The larger part of them are used for commercial purposes and for animal feed. Certain varieties have been used for human food. Those which require the least cooking are said to be: Easycook, Rokusum, Hokkaido, Chuesi, Kanro, and Jogun. The next easiest to cook are Mammoth Yellow, Dixie, and Hahto.
Some people do not care for the flavor of soybeans. Some varieties have stronger undesirable flavors than others. Nearly everyone likes the Hahto flavor. You should try them. They are also known as soy limas.
Soybean Milk for Babies: Proper nourishment for babies and children is one of the most important phases of nutrition. Not only does their present wellbeing depend upon it, but their foundation for the future is now being laid, and they are now preparing either for long or shortened lives.
Therefore, we must know for sure if the soybean milk is a satisfactory food for babies and children. To provide a basis of confidence in this matter, we present the statements of authorities, research workers, experimenters, hospitals, doctors, and mothers who relate their experiences with the milk.
In the Orient: “If the dried beans…are soaked for a few hours, then finely crushed and boiled for about 30 minutes in the proportion of a 3 parts of water to 1 of mash, a milky emulsion is obtained which is very similar in appearance and properties to animal milk. This liquid is the soybean or vegetable milk so extensively used in China….In the absence of animal milk, soybean milk is used extensively in the fresh state, and as the basis of various kinds of vegetable cheeses in Oriental countries.
Soy Milk vs. Cow’s Milk: “A great deal has been written and said indicating that the proteins of soybeans and soybean products are of exceptionally high order in human nutrition….Kung and Fang have conducted nitrogen metabolism trials with preschool children, comparing the proteins of soybeans to the proteins of cow’s milk. The result of these experiments showed no marked difference for the children studied in the protein utilization of mixed diets, when supplemented with soybean milk or cow’s milk.”
Infants: “Soybean milk has been found useful in the feeding of infants who cannot tolerate cow’s milk, because of individual hypersensitivity.”
Hospital Work: “We use soybean milk as a substitute for cow’s milk in feeding milk sensitive infants….It is helpful in conditions of eczema….It would be a satisfactory substitute for cow’s milk for a normal child.”
Grab a friend and share the wealth, from what you’ve learned in the School of Health! In our next class, we continue learning about soybeans. God bless!
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