What are the uses of soya bean?

Soya beans are divided into two groups, beans with less oil used as vegetables and beans with rich oil. From vegetable beans which contain less oil, soya flour, soya milk, tofu and vegetable proteins are prepared and these are very healthy not only for the vegetarians but also to everybody.

After the extraction of oil from the soya oil beans, this high protein soya meal is used as animal feed.

Soya beans are also directly used as food and every country has its special preparations. In Japan, China and Korea soya beans are not only popular but also important food.

Soya beans are used to produce soya ice cream, soya cheese, soya milk, soya yoghurt, tofu and margarine which are diary substitutes. It is also used to prepare the imitation of potato chips, milk, cheese, yoghurt and many other products.

Soya beans are used to prepare baby food for babies who are allergic to cow milk proteins or for lactose intolerant babies.

The pytoestrogens present in the beans may not be a problem for sexual, immune, neurobehavioural or thyroid development.

It is a big substitute for milk and dairy products.

Soya beans have many industrial uses. It is used in the production of biodiesel, plastics, resins, cosmetics, solvents and of course, soya oil.

What is the relationship among calcium, estrogens and vitamin D?

It is very simple, for the absorption of calcium from our intestine to blood we need estrogens and vitamin D. If you have deficiency of estrogens, vitamin D or both you can also have less absorption of calcium which may lead to osteoporosis.

It is more difficult to keep the absorbed calcium in our body and several factors such as, the amount of calcium or the amount of vitamin D, or sodium or protein has a good or very bad influence on it. Too much from these food or nutrients are bad for calcium metabolism.

The estrogens production is slowly reduced during the pre-menopausal period and in post-menopausal the concentration is very low. Estrogens replacement therapy or enough vitamin D intake is, therefore, very important for women’s health.

The phytoestrogens from soya beans or other vegetables can also replace estrogens replacement therapy.