Recent developments indicate that food and beverages made from soybeans can help to prevent chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis. That’s because soybeans contain a wide variety of healthy compounds.

This health claim places food and beverages made from soybeans among a select category of functional foods - foods that possess unique medicinal attributes as well as nutritional value.

A recent research study supported by the Canada-Ontario Research & Development (C-ORD) Program and the Ontario Soybean Growers was conducted to evaluate the effect of soybean isoflavones on breast cancer cells.

Isoflavones are naturally occurring compounds called ‘phytochemicals’ that affect specific hormones in the blood.

Laboratory mice were inoculated with human breast cancer cells and then fed extracts of certain soybean isoflavones. The animal studies and clinical evaluations demonstrated that a particular isoflavone extract inhibited the development of tumours.

“The confirmation that this soybean isoflavone extract has the potential to prevent and treat breast cancer in laboratory mice allows us to conclude that this formulation might be effective in the prevention and treatment of breast tumours in humans,” said Dr. Chung-Ja C. Jackson, formerly with the University of Guelph. “This research has provided a platform to continue with further studies.”

Another research project supported by the C-ORD Program is leading the way to increase the level of isoflavones in soybeans with advanced genetic technology.

“Our research has determined the mode of inheritance and we have mapped the genes that control the concentration of isoflavones in soybeans,” said Dr. Istvan Rajcan, University of Guelph.

“This new scientific advancement could become an economical tool for breeding soybean varieties that are rich in isoflavones,” said Bill Allison, Chairman of the OSG. “Soy foods with more healthy isoflavones could become a new value-added opportunity for the soybean industry.”

However, despite their proven health benefits, some people don’t eat soy foods such as tofu or drink soy beverages because they don’t like the characteristic bean flavour. Improving the taste would greatly increase the popularity of soy foods and beverages with consumers.

Funded by the C-ORD Program and the Ontario Soybean Growers, researchers focused on the source of the unfavourable flavour. “The bean taste is caused by a natural reaction between a polyunsaturated fatty acid, linolenic fatty acid and three compounds called lipoxygenase isozymes in soybean seeds,” said University of Guelph researcher Dr. K. Peter Pauls.

Pauls, along with Dr. Vaino Poysa from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and a team of researchers developed a new soybean variety that has low levels of the compounds that affect flavour. They also investigated whether this new soybean would produce better tasting soy beverages. They compared the flavour of a soy beverage produced from the new variety with a beverage made from conventional food grade soybeans.

The results of two taste panels conducted at the University of Guelph and by a leading soy beverage company in Belgium showed that the new soybean produced a soy beverage that tastes better than beverages made from conventional food grade soybeans.

“With this research we can now produce soybeans with improved flavour,” said Pauls. “The new soybean varieties are now being used in the soybean breeding program at the University of Guelph’s Harrow Research Station and have been released under a nonexclusive arrangement to First Line Seeds of Guelph.”

“Thanks to this research, soy foods and beverages will taste better and will offer consumers even more health benefits,” said Graeme Hedley of the Ontario Agricultural Commodity Council. “Ontario’s soybean industry will also benefit with new opportunities for value-added soy products.”

Marketing new Ontario soybean products is the focus of ‘Soy 20/20’, another C-ORD Program and OSG funded project. “Soy 20/20 is helping the soybean industry to capitalize on technology and develop new opportunities to market specialty soy foods, as well as further capitalize on soy based industrial products”, said Bob Bedggood, Chair of the Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC).

Now completed, the C-ORD Program was initiated in 1996 to improve the competitiveness of Ontario’s agri-food sector and increase its diversity and self-reliance through applied research and development. The C-ORD Program is funded by Agriculture and Agri-food Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food through an Agricultural Safety Net provision for research.

The Agricultural Adaptation Council is a non-profit coalition of 58 Ontario agricultural, agri-food and rural organizations that administers the C-ORD Program on behalf of the Ontario Agricultural Commodity Council.

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For more information contact:

Nadine Buitenhuis
Communications Coordinator
Agricultural Adaptation Council
Phone: 519-822-7554
Fax: 519-822-6248
Nadine's e-mail
Web site: www.adaptcouncil.org