Current Trends in Soy Ingredient Applications
and Uses in Organic Products

By Leslie M. Nsofor, Ph.D.

The recent global perception of health benefits of organic foods dovetails with the current awareness of the health benefits of soy. Synergy of both perceptions may partly provide a panacea to the global emergence of chronic degenerative diseases, which presently have attained epidemic proportions. Age-old traditional practices like small-scale organic farming and natural food preservation have given way to massive mechanized agriculture that is in synergy with pesticide and fertilizer applications. Extensive use of chemicals for food preservation is now universal. These measures, which were intended as the antidote for human population explosion, mass urbanization and the closely associated insatiable food demand, unfortunately produced undesirable side effects—a major one being the extensive chemical contamination of man and his environment.

Resurgence of environmental protection awareness is one catalyst that has led to a new dawn of organic and natural foods consumption, and from which the collaboration between organic foods and soy appears to be a life-prolonging marriage. It is not surprising, therefore, that the recognized originators of the intertwined concept of “organic foods and soy”—who by an uncanny coincidence are the greatest consumers of soy, the peoples of the Orient—now are internationally recognized for living long, healthy lives.

Health Benefits of Organic Soy
Consumer perception of soy’s health benefits is strongly driven by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved soy protein “heart-healthy” claim. Awareness of the anti-cancer benefits of soy also is becoming more widespread, particularly with the recently published petition to the FDA for approval of the associated health claim. The very recent and widely publicized association of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with breast cancer in post-menopausal women has helped put soy isoflavones in our present-day lexicon. Today, isoflavones are viewed as a possible HRT replacement. These health benefits notwithstanding, emerging information from reputable scientific conferences and authoritative medical journals to a large extent show the alleviation of medical conditions such as diabetes, obesity, hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol and triglyceride), hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia with increased consumption of soy foods. Obesity, its cousin, diabetes and close relatives, hypertension and stroke are emerging global plagues of the new millennium.

Organic soybean ingredients are a natural fit in manufactured organic food products. Food legislation disallows inclusion of bulk inorganic ingredients in manufactured organic foods. The most popularly consumed soy food/beverage today is organic soymilk. This product is generally perceived as natural, wholesome, free of pesticides and toxic substances, and thus is non-contributory to the emergent, widespread chronic degenerative diseases. It is therefore desirable for the organic food processor to positively exploit this widespread consumer perception.

The processor should aspire to incorporate organic soy ingredients such as whole soy powders, non-chemically extracted soy components like physically expressed soybean oils and physically extracted soy proteins in the manufacture of wholesome organic products. Traditional and nontraditional soyfoods and soy-based beverage analogs also could be manufactured with organic whole soybean powders or organically extracted soy components. The labels on the containers of these organic foods and beverages should clearly indicate their content of organic soy ingredients. Such manufacturing practices in turn would further drive consumer awareness and promote the consumption of organic foods.

Desirable Soy Ingredient Characteristics
Soybeans applied as a food ingredient proffers two unique solutions in food and health aims: the addition of physical and chemical functionality in the food, as well as the addition of improved physiological functionality (i.e., added health benefits). Four broadly categorized components of soybeans are ascribed in these two functions. These are proteins, fats, carbohydrates and phytochemicals (physiologically active plant chemicals). While soy proteins offer well known gelation, water and flavor binding, and emulsification properties in formulated foods, soy carbohydrates, which include soluble and insoluble fiber and oligosaccharides, act primarily as bulking agents, water binders and colloidal stabilizers. Soy fats (oils) offer a range of properties, including emulsification and shortening. Soy phytochemicals are unique in their roles in human physiology, with isoflavones the most recently publicized of these. Chronic degenerative disease prevention and cure, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases, have been closely associated with increased consumption of isoflavone-rich foods such as those that are soy-based. Other well-known soybean phytochemicals include saponin, phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors, phytosterols, lecithin, omega fatty acids and vitamin E.

The combined beneficial health effects of soy phytonutrients and the major soybean nutrients are emerging. For instance, smaller molecular weight soybean proteins, including beta-conglycinin and the Bowman-Birk trypsin inhibitor, interact with soy isoflavones genistein and daidzein in counteracting the onset and progression of certain cancers. The combined inhibitory effect of the bioactive lipids omega 3 fatty acids and the isoflavone genistein in the control of plaque formation in blood vessels of the heart is becoming apparent. Also, the nutritional support offered by soy oligosaccharides (small sugars) to the bacteria in the human colon (probiotics) is emerging. This partly enhances immune function since it facilitates the fermentation and breakdown of soy protein to produce small bioactive peptides (protein fragments) that promote antibody formation leading to cell mediated immunity, which suppresses chronic inflammatory disease development.

Traditional and Contemporary Soyfoods
The emigration of Asian peoples to other parts of the world, particularly America, led to the export of Oriental food culture. Today, traditional Chinese foods have been integrated into the Western food culture, and common among them are soy sauce, tofu, soymilk and tempeh. These foods and food ingredients were originally accepted as vegetarian milk and meat alternatives and seasonings. In contemporary times, however, they are utilized as functional foods because of their perceived health benefits. Other soy-based ingredients and snack foods that are popular in the West include soy oil, soy flour, soy protein and roasted soybeans, or soy nuts.

These soy foods, ingredients and condiments have been adapted to several food uses. Soybean oil is about the most widely utilized single soy product in the food industry in the U.S. It is a popular cooking oil in the home, sit-in restaurants and fast food chains. Organic soymilk recently has become a highly accepted mainstream beverage sold side-by-side with pasteurized fresh cow’s milk in the refrigerated dairy case at supermarkets. Currently, legislation is in the works that would specify the inclusion of soymilk in the national school lunch program for lactose-intolerant students and others who are allergic to cow’s milk.

Tofu, amazingly, is now a mainstream food in the U.S. Fried, spiced tofu is increasingly accepted as a cholesterol-free meat alternative. Vegetarian burgers made with textured soy protein are fast becoming common offerings in fast food restaurants. In this low-carb era, soy protein is added to dough mixes for baking for the control of blood sugar and insulin levels. Soy nuts are offered in the snack foods market as more healthy alternatives to peanuts and cashew nuts. Overall, contemporary recognition of soy-based foods, beverages and snacks is a clear signal of the acceptance of soy products as functional foods.

Novel Soy Applications in Organic Products
A new and clearly emerging soy food in the organic category is whole soy (full fiber) yogurt-type product. Strenuous research and development efforts to introduce consumer acceptable products in this category so far have produced limited success. The common problems encountered are chalkiness, poor yogurt-like texture and syneresis, or whey separation. Flavor problems also are detectable. Product developers have settled for the manufacture of extracted soymilk-based yogurt-type product or fermented soy drink instead of the nutritionally advantageous non-extracted full-fiber variety. Full-fiber whole soy yogurt manufacture thus presents new research and development challenges.

Interest in full-fiber whole soy products is growing as the importance of dietary fiber takes center stage in nutritional studies these days. Americans’ dietary fiber intake is short of the recommended amount. A fine balance in the ratio of soluble to insoluble fiber intake has been indicated to play a role in “bad” cholesterol removal from the blood. Bad cholesterol is directly linked to heart attacks and strokes. Dietary fiber also has a major role in colon cancer prevention. The prebiotic value of soluble soy fiber and oligosaccharides has been highlighted above. Thus, the utilization of whole (full-fiber) soy in yogurt-type products proffers many health benefits.

It is a well-known fact that isoflavone metabolism and absorption in the gut is accelerated by the fermentative activity of gut microorganisms (probiotics). These isoflavones are naturally embedded in a soy protein-soy fiber matrix. The combined activity of human digestive and microbial enzymes partly release the bioactive forms of these isoflavones from their “vaults.” In circumstances in which these digestive agents show reduced activities as are common in the aged, stressed-out people, the sick and those undergoing antibiotic therapy, alcoholics and people with generally low colon activity due to their disposition (physical inactivity), isoflavone metabolism and absorption may become reduced. Soy nutrients, theoretically, are grossly underutilized by these subjects, who may pass out great amounts of these nutrients in feces.

This abnormal situation, which apparently occurs in real life, calls for predigestion or enzyme hydrolysis of whole soybean before incorporation into food and beverage products for maximum derivation of health benefits from the different soy components synergistically. Human beings lack the enzymes for hydrolyzing soy fiber. Predigestion and fermentation, therefore, are crucial foresteps to the derivation of maximum health benefits by the consumer of the whole (full fiber) soy yogurt in the present context. Yogurt starter culture also lacks the full arsenal of enzymes necessary for complete hydrolysis of whole soy. Thus, predigestion and fermentation steps can enhance ultimate digestion of the whole soy in the human gut. This, in principle, causes abundant release of soy bioactive components, including peptides, which are biologically active fragments of soy proteins, and the more bioactive forms of isoflavones, aglycones, in addition to the activation of other soy nutrients.

Amazingly, this “emerging” biotechnology is partially practiced in Oriental traditional food processing, where the bulk of their soy foods undergo predigestion and/or fermentation. This concept has great potential for soy ingredients development for organic and conventional food applications on a global basis. The bottom line is that it produces more bioactive soy components for enhanced health benefits. The typical Western soyfoods manufacturing operation emphasizes neither predigestion nor fermentation of whole soy. Rather, it focuses on extraction of single soy components and consumption of this purified component as a nutritional supplement. This practice, in essence, annuls the favorable synergy of bioactive soy components in conferring desirable health benefits.

New Organic Soyfoods Development
The rhetorical “soyfoods taste bad” is gradually being consigned to history with advances in soybean breeding. Progressively, bland-tasting soybean varieties have been developed and are now commercially available from suppliers. The improvement is so remarkable that blends of soymilk and cow’s milk have recently been produced with no detectable soy taste. Finicky milk drinkers could find this a first step to soymilk consumption for derivation of the dreamed-about health benefits!

Improved processing technologies also have assisted in eliminating soy flavor. Combined enzyme hydrolysis and spray drying of soybean hydrolyzates produces a totally bland and easily reconstitutable predigested soy base powder, which has wide applications in the development of organic food and beverage products. Bland soy bases could be flavored with typical dairy flavors with the resultant products exhibiting no typical soy taste. Non-soy-tasting vanilla ice cream recently has been produced with approximately equal proportions of enzyme hydrolyzed (full fiber) whole soy and dairy components. Other non-dairy type applications are easily achieved with bland soy bases. Soy-fortified baked wheat flour products are common examples, and soy-cream liqueurs development is undergoing experimentation.

Leslie M. Nsofor, Ph.D., is the co-founder and deputy CEO of Soy Ultima LLC, a soy products research, development and manufacturing startup company based in East Lansing, MI. His research on soybean utilization for food and beverage manufacture spans 20 years in Africa and the U.S. In addition to his responsibilities at Soy Ultima, where he directs research, Nsofor is an adjunct associate professor at Michigan State University’s food science and human nutrition department since 1999. At MSU, his pilot plant manufacturing and research studies on bioactivity enhancement of soy products has produced a U.S. patent (2002) on the development of predigested whole soybean base with applications to food and beverage products. Nsofor’s present research focuses on the fermentation of predigested whole soy flour for bioactive peptides production and overall enhancement of antioxidant properties and biological activities. Contact Dr. Nsofor via e-mail at lensofor@aol.com.