Soybean, packed with pharmacological activity, rich in hormones that boost estrogen levels in postmenopausal women. Has anticancer activity and is thought to be specially antagonistic to breast cancer.
Soybeans are the richest source of potent protease inhibitors which are anticancer, antiviral agents. In many human tests, soybeans lower blood cholesterol substantially, based on numerous studies throughout the world, and recently indicated that cholesterol dropped by an average of 12 percent in subjects eating food fortified with soy ingredients.
That in some studies, soy protein is declared the most effective dietary way to suppress cholesterol. The secret is in the soy protein, found in such foods as whole and split soybeans, soymilk, tofu, textured soy protein and tempeh, but not in soy sauce and soybean oil.
Learn to love soybeans, including tofu,the soybean posses at least five known anticancer agents.they contain anti- estrogenic activity that may thwart the development of hormone -related cancers, such as breast and prostate cancers. They are rich source of protease inhibitors, which in animals block or hinder development of colon, oral, lung, liver, pancreatic and esophageal cancers.
Two other constituents of soybean- phytosterols and saponins are strongly anticancer. In animals phytosterols help quelch colon cancer by inhibiting cell division and proliferation. Saponins can stimulate immunity, slaying cancer cells, slow the growth of cancerous cervical and skin cells, and even reverse the proliferation of cancerous colon cells.
Soybean compounds also block formation of the carcinogens- nitros amines, which can lead to liver cancer. Infact soy substances did the job better than vitamin C, which is put into cured meats explicitly to inhibit nitrosamines.
Ouma is Kenya-based food scientist
