Nutritionists believe that among vegetables, bean products, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, and potatoes, and among fruits, bananas, pomelos, citrus, and sweet oranges all play a significant role in maintaining human health.
Today, the extremely high nutritional value of soybeans (yellow soybeans, black soybeans) and their excellent health functions are increasingly being hailed as a "modern miracle".
Smart Power
Soybeans are rich in phospholipids, a natural nutritional activator, and an important substance for building a smart brain. Since 20-30% of the human brain is composed of phospholipids, consuming foods rich in phospholipids, such as soybeans, can increase the release of acetylcholine in the brain, thereby improving human memory and learning abilities. In addition, soybean phospholipids contain nutrients such as phosphatidylinositol and sterols, which can enhance nerve function and vitality, and have good health benefits.
Anti-acid Effect
Soybean phospholipids contain 85%-90% phosphatidylcholine, as well as phosphatidylethanolamine, phospholipid glycosides, etc., which have excellent health effects on human organs. Recent research results show that various tissues and organs in the human body contain large amounts of phospholipids. Soybean phospholipids can increase tissue function, lower cholesterol, improve lipid metabolism, and prevent and treat cerebral artery and coronary artery sclerosis. It also helps liver health and has certain therapeutic effects on hepatitis and fatty liver. In addition, soybean phospholipids can also promote the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and prevent the acidification of the body and various tissues and organs.
Multi-functional Benefits
The plant protein in soybeans is also an important health substance because it is the basic material for the brain to engage in complex intellectual activities.
Increasing the content of soy protein in food can enhance the excitatory and inhibitory functions of the cerebral cortex, improving learning and work efficiency and avoiding the deep development of frustration and depression. Once scholars conducted a comparative study and found that people who regularly eat plant protein have an average cholesterol level 12% lower than the control group. American scholars divided people with normal cholesterol into groups A and B for a clinical experiment. Group A's diet was mainly milk and animal protein, while group B's diet was mainly soy protein, and they also consumed 500 mg of cholesterol daily. After two weeks, the experimental results showed that not only did low-density lipoprotein in group B decrease significantly, but high-density lipoprotein also increased by 15%. This experiment fully proves that soy protein does play an important role in the prevention and treatment of heart disease.
Skin Care Messenger
Currently, medical experts are developing a topical cosmetic product that has both beauty and skin care value and can avoid some side effects—plant estrogen preparations. This plant estrogen is a substance similar to isoflavones extracted from soybeans, and is called a health messenger for maintaining youth and protecting the complexion. It has similar effects to estrogen and is a top product for beauty and anti-aging of the skin.
British and American scientists, after research, have revealed the secret of why Eastern women have beautiful faces, delicate skin, and a lower incidence of breast cancer compared to Westerners. Eastern soybean products are "honored guests" at the dining table, and soybeans (yellow soybeans) can be called the "king of estrogen".
Skin Whitening
Japanese women are currently popularizing a trend: "eating miso to whiten the skin." The Food Function Research Department of the Food Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan has confirmed that miso contains a substance that can inhibit the synthesis of melanin. Melanin is a pigment that darkens the skin. When the skin is exposed to ultraviolet rays, it promotes the secretion of melanin in the skin, making it darker. They conducted experiments on mice, and when they added the substance extracted from miso to the cells that synthesize melanin in mice, they found that the black cells turned white. According to the researchers, its ingredient is linoleic acid. Melanin is synthesized from tyrosine, one of the amino acids, and linoleic acid has the function of preventing cells from producing the enzyme needed for this synthesis.
Five-fold Anti-cancer Effect
The Japanese people's love for tofu is truly well-deserved; there are 30,000 tofu shops nationwide, and on average, each person eats more than 20 kilograms of tofu per year. Japanese Americans living in Hawaii who regularly eat tofu have a one-third lower rate of stomach cancer than Americans who do not eat tofu. The medical department of Hawaii once conducted a 20-year follow-up survey of 8,000 Japanese Americans and found that people who ate tofu only once a week or once every two to three weeks had a prostate cancer rate three times higher than those who ate tofu daily.
After long-term experiments, experts have provided a large amount of data to prove that soybeans contain at least 5 substances with anti-cancer effects: 1. Protease inhibitor; 2. Phytase; 3. Plant sterols; 4. Saponins; 5. Isoflavones.
Physiological Activity
Soybean saponins can increase the content of SOD, scavenge free radicals, and have antioxidant and lipid peroxidation-lowering effects. Soybean saponins have the effect of inhibiting the growth of tumor cells, acting directly on toxic cells, regulating human immune function, and can also destroy the structure of tumor cell membranes or inhibit DNA synthesis. Soybean saponins can control thrombocytopenia and thrombin-induced fibrin formation, and have an anti-thrombotic effect. The various physiological functions of soybean saponins, such as lowering blood lipids, antioxidant, anti-atherosclerosis, and immune regulation, determine its broad application prospects in medicine.
The Mystery of Phytase
Soybeans contain phytase, and phosphorus is an essential macronutrient for the human body. However, the medical community has long believed that phytase would bind calcium and iron in the human body in the intestines, making these minerals difficult to absorb. Later, it was discovered that although phytase binds calcium and iron in the intestines and affects human absorption, it can inhibit the occurrence of colon cancer. Phytase usually appears in high-iron plants. Soybeans are high in iron and also rich in dietary fiber, which can prevent colon cancer. After the discovery of phytase, people have become more confident that soybeans can prevent colon cancer.
The Transmission of Plant Sterols
Animal foods contain cholesterol, while plant foods contain plant sterols. After the human body ingests cholesterol, its main breakdown product is bile acid, which is harmful to health. After plant sterols enter the human body, they compete with cholesterol in the intestines and are more easily absorbed by the intestinal wall, thereby lowering cholesterol. This can not only inhibit colon cancer but is also beneficial for preventing and treating heart disease.
The Miraculous Power of Enzymes
In crops such as beans, grains, and potatoes, there is a substance called protease inhibitor. If animal feed is eaten raw, it can affect protein digestion. A scholar from New York University in the United States discovered through experiments that the protease inhibitor in soybeans can inhibit skin cancer and bladder cancer, and its inhibitory effect on breast cancer is even more obvious, reaching 50%. Another report states that protease inhibitors can also exert inhibitory effects on colon cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and stomach cancer.
Prevention of Deafness
Many people over the age of 60 experience hearing loss and presbycusis. Nutrition experts believe that supplementing the body with iron can dilate microvessels, soften red blood cells, and ensure blood supply to the ears, which can effectively prevent hearing loss. The iron and zinc content in soybeans is much higher than in other foods. Therefore, eating bean products often helps prevent presbycusis.
Prevention of Stroke
The root cause of stroke is hypertension and cerebral arteriosclerosis, which are its main etiological and pathological basis. The American medical community surveyed 2,000 middle-aged Americans and found that hypertensive patients had increased sodium and decreased potassium in their urine, indicating that the dietary structure of hypertensive patients has excessive sodium intake and insufficient potassium intake. Therefore, it is necessary to consume high-potassium foods to promote the excretion of excessive sodium and salt in the body. There are many types of potassium-rich foods. Nutritionists believe that among vegetables, bean products, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, and potatoes, and among fruits, bananas, pomelos, citrus, and sweet oranges all play a significant role in maintaining human health.