Health Benefits & Problems of Soy Protein Powder

Soy beans have the potential to offer us plenty of health benefits, from their high protein and fiber contents to their purported cancer prevention properties. Soy protein, in its natural form, is indigestible. Cultures that have traditionally made extensive use of soy as a dietary protein have developed a range of strategies for fermenting the beans and making its nutrients more readily available, creating foods such as tofu, tempeh and miso. Commercial Western enterprises have also developed processes for isolating soy proteins by making soy protein powder, or isolate. Although this powder is high in protein, its actual health benefits are questionable.

Protein

• Protein is an essential nutrient for the growth of muscles, as well as an overall healthy metabolism. But much available protein comes from animal sources, and can be high in cholesterol and saturated fat. Soy protein powder is an easy to use supplement that can provide substantial amounts of protein either for body building or to meet basic nutritional requirements. One ounce, or two tablespoons of soy protein isolate contains twenty three grams of protein, or about a third of what most people require for an entire day.

Intensive Processing of Soy Protein Powder

• Soy protein powder is a highly processed food, one that is far removed from its natural state. Most unprocessed foods are rich in micronutrients and phytochemicals, beneficial substances present in plant and animal foods in unadulterated forms. But industrial food processing techniques tend to remove these compounds, lessening the overall nutritional value of the finished product. The process of creating soy protein isolate involves denaturing a slurry of soy protein to remove the fiber, and then finishing it in an acid wash to separate its components. Not only does the finished product lose the nutritional benefits of the fiber contained in the unadulterated soybean, but the acid wash process--usually performed in aluminum vats--leaches harmful chemicals from the equipment into the food.

Genetically Modified Soybeans

• Most soy protein powder comes from genetically modified soybeans. Genetic modification is a process introduced by giant biotech companies, and it involves inserting genes into the DNA of plant and animal seeds is order to create traits that are considered beneficial, such as a gene for resistance to a particular pesticide. Although genetically modified seeds are now prevalent for many industrial food crops, we have yet to understand the consequences of introducing them into our diets and our environment. Organic food products, by definition, do not contain genetically modified ingredients but most soy protein powders are made from inorganic soybeans.