In a world where nutrition, health, and wellness are major concerns, protein is frequently praised as an essential component of life. But how can we choose the protein that’s optimal for our bodies when there are so many options available? Among these, soy protein is particularly noteworthy due to the myths surrounding it as well as its nutritional advantages.
Motivated by a desire to promote options that are more easily accessible there, a lot of these beliefs appear to have their roots in the West. However, since soy protein has long been a staple of nations like the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans, it’s critical to distinguish reality from fantasy.
Although soy protein is a nutritious powerhouse and has been a staple of diets for thousands of years, there are many myths and misconceptions about it. It’s time to expose these misconceptions and reveal the real story of soy protein.
Prior to that, though, it’s crucial to remember that soybeans are unique among plants in that they produce “high quality” protein. The protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS), which takes into account both the essential amino acid content and the protein’s digestibility, is frequently used to quantify “quality” in this context. Depending on the particular soy product, soy protein’s PDCAAS values might vary from 0.91 to 1.0, which is seen to be the optimal score in terms of digestibility.
These beliefs are usually the result of research on animals. Human data indicates that soy isoflavones behave differently in people than they do in animals, despite the fact that rodents, with their somewhat similar physiology to humans, are employed to understand the impacts of various substances. Moreover, these experiments frequently employ erroneously high quantities of soy isoflavones, surpassing even the maximum amounts of soy intake in normal diets.
