Soy or Soya - Nutrition

Soy or Soya - Nutrition

Soya beans are excellent sources of good quality protein. They are a boon for vegetarians and vegans. Soya beans contain upto 40 % soy protein on a dry weight basis. It also contains appreciable amounts of fats though it present mostly as unsaturated fat. It is low in carbohydrate content

Soy contains important trace elements. It contains appreciable amounts of calcium. It also contains magnesium and zinc.

It is a good source of fibre. It contains many of the B complex vitamins including thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid and pyridoxine (vitamin B6). Hence it can be considered as a good source of vitamins of the B Complex group. However it does not contain Vitamin B 12 or cobalamine. It is also a good source of isoflavones and phytoestrogen.

It has a trypsin inhibiting factor and hence it is essential to heat soya beans to deactivate this trypsin inhibiting factor.