Everyone loves to eat and for sure, that includes you. However, at this day and age, it is not advisable that you just eat everything or anything that you want to eat. It is important for you to be extra careful and mindful of the things that you put in your mouth. The good news is that there are now plenty of food ingredients that can help you achieve the best level of health. One of these is none other than soy protein.
Since 1959, soy protein has already been used as an ingredient for the functional properties in various foods, including soups, salad dressings, meat imitations and vegetarian foods. The functional properties of soy protein are texturizing and emulsification. Just recently, the fame of soy protein has been consistently increasing, primarily because of the health benefits that it has to offer. It has already been proven that the soy protein can actually help in preventing heart problems and there are many countries that allow the health claims for the foods that have high content of soy protein.
In the United States, the health claim on soy protein is allowed under these conditions:
- A single serving should contain a minimum of 6.25 grams of the soy protein.
- A single serving should contain a maximum of 3 grams of fat, unless the product is derived from or made of whole soy and has no fat in addition to the fat that is naturally present in whole soy. Out of the 3 grams of the fat, maximum of one gram may be saturated fat that represents a maximum of 15% of overall calories.
- The serving should contain no more than 20 milligrams of the cholesterol.
- This food also has low content of sodium, below 480 milligrams for every food, below 720 milligrams for main dish and below 960 milligrams for meal product.
Soy Protein and Its Different Categories
The soy proteins can also be divided into various categories that are based on their method of production.
- Textured soy Protein – Usually referred to as TSP, texture soy protein is made from the soy protein concentrate that is done through giving it a bit of texture. TSP is made available ad chunks or dry flakes. It can keep its structure if hydrated. The hydrated chunks of textured soy protein have the same texture as that of ground beef. This can also be used as a replacement for meat or you can also add this to meat. The textured soy protein contains around 70% of protein.
- Soy Protein Concentrate – This is primarily soybean that does not contain water soluble carbohydrates. This contains around 70% protein.
- Soy Protein Isolate – The last category is the most refined out of the different forms of soy protein and this is primarily used in the meat products for improving their eating quality and texture. The soy protein isolates contains around 90% of protein.
If you love to eat, make sure that you add soy protein to your diet to have a good and healthy eating habit.
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