Soy milk is a traditional Chinese food and a must-have breakfast beverage for urban dwellers due to its rich nutritional value, suitable for all ages. However, only by drinking soy milk scientifically can it have health benefits. How can we maximize its advantages and avoid its disadvantages? Let's take a look at the following suggestions!
What are the health benefits of soy milk
●It can strengthen the body. Every 100 grams of soy milk contains 45 grams of protein, 18 grams of fat, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 45 grams of phosphorus, 25 grams of iron, 25 grams of calcium, as well as vitamins, riboflavin, etc., which is greatly beneficial for enhancing physical fitness.
●It can prevent diabetes. Soy milk contains a large amount of dietary fiber, which can effectively prevent excessive sugar absorption and reduce sugar levels, thus preventing diabetes. It is an essential food for diabetics in their daily diet.
●It can prevent and treat high blood pressure. The sterols, potassium, and magnesium in soy milk are powerful anti-sodium substances. Sodium is one of the main causes of the onset and recurrence of high blood pressure. If the amount of sodium in the body is properly controlled, it can both prevent and treat high blood pressure.
●It can prevent and treat coronary heart disease. The sterols, potassium, magnesium, and calcium in soy milk can enhance the excitement of the cardiovascular system, improve cardiac nutrition, lower cholesterol, and promote blood flow to prevent vascular spasms. If you can insist on drinking a bowl of soy milk every day, the recurrence rate of coronary heart disease can be reduced by 50%.
●It can prevent stroke. The magnesium and calcium elements in soy milk can significantly reduce blood lipids in the brain and improve cerebral blood flow, thereby effectively preventing the occurrence of cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage. The lecithin in soy milk can also reduce the death of brain cells and improve brain function.
●It can prevent and treat cancer. The protein, selenium, and molybdenum in soy milk have strong anti-cancer and cancer-treating abilities, especially effective against stomach cancer, colon cancer, and breast cancer.
●It can prevent bronchitis. The methionine in soy milk can prevent the smooth muscle spasms of bronchitis, thereby reducing and alleviating the onset of bronchitis.
●It can prevent aging. The selenium, vitamin E, and C in soy milk have great antioxidant functions, which can make the body's cells "rejuvenate," with the greatest effect on brain cells.
●It can prevent senile dementia, constipation, and obesity.
Not only that, soy milk can also improve bone metabolism, prevent osteoporosis, and reduce the risk of arteriosclerosis. However, if it is not consumed scientifically, it can be harmful to health. When drinking soy milk, be sure to avoid the following eight major mistakes:
1. Soy milk is nature cold-natured. People with poor digestion, belching, or poor kidney function should drink it in moderation. Additionally, soy milk can produce gas under the action of enzymes, so people with bloating and diarrhea should avoid drinking it. Furthermore, patients with acute gastritis and chronic superficial gastritis should not consume soy products to avoid excessive stimulation of gastric acid secretion, which can worsen the condition or cause gastrointestinal bloating. Since soy milk is made from soybeans, which are high in purines and are considered a cold-natured food, people with a deficiency-cold constitution, especially those with symptoms of gout, fatigue, weakness, and mental exhaustion, are not suitable for drinking soy milk.
2. Do not add brown sugar to soy milk, because brown sugar contains various organic acids that can easily bind with the proteases in soy milk, causing the protein to denature and precipitate, making it difficult for the body to absorb it. White sugar does not have this phenomenon.
3. Some people like to keep soy milk warm in a thermos, but this method is not advisable because the warm and humid internal environment of a thermos is highly conducive to bacterial growth. In addition, the saponins in soy milk can dissolve the scale in the thermos, which is harmful to human health.
4. Soy milk must not be taken with antibiotics such as erythromycin, as they will have antagonistic chemical reactions. The interval time between drinking soy milk and taking antibiotics should be at least 1 hour.
5. Regular soy milk drinkers should pay attention to supplementing zinc. Beans contain inhibitors, saponins, and lectins, which are all harmful substances to the human body. The best way to deal with them is to cook the soy milk thoroughly, and people who consume soy milk for a long time should not forget to supplement the trace element zinc.
6. Do not beat eggs into soy milk. Many people like to add eggs to soy milk, thinking it is more nutritious, but this method is unscientific. This is because the mucoprotein in eggs easily combines with the trypsin in soy milk, producing a substance that cannot be absorbed by the human body, greatly reducing the body's absorption of nutrients.
7. Do not drink excessively. Drinking too much soy milk at once can easily cause indigestion of protein, leading to discomfort symptoms such as bloating and diarrhea.
8. Do not drink raw soy milk. Many people like to buy raw soy milk and heat it at home. When heating, they see foam rising and mistakenly think it has boiled. In fact, this is a phenomenon of bubbles rising caused by the expansion of organic matter in the soy milk due to heat, not boiling, and it is not cooked. Drinking uncooked soy milk is harmful to the human body. Because soy milk contains two toxic substances that can cause protein metabolic disorders and irritate the gastrointestinal tract, causing poisoning symptoms. The way to prevent soy milk poisoning is to boil it at a high temperature of 100°C, and then it can be safely consumed. If symptoms such as headache and difficulty in breathing appear after drinking soy milk, you should seek medical attention immediately and not delay to prevent a life-threatening situation.