soy beans - 25

The soybean (U.S.) or soya bean (UK) (Glycine max)[1] is a species of legume native to East Asia. The plant is classed as an oilseed rather than a pulse.
Fat-free (defatted) soybean meal is a primary, low-cost, source of protein for animal feeds and most prepackaged meals[citation needed]; soy vegetable oil is another valuable product of processing the soybean crop. For example, soybean products such as textured vegetable protein (TVP) are important ingredients in many meat and dairy analogues.[2

DETAILED DESACRIPTION
The soybean (U.S.) or soya bean (UK) (Glycine max)[1] is a species of legume native to East Asia. The plant is classed as an oilseed rather than a pulse.
Fat-free (defatted) soybean meal is a primary, low-cost, source of protein for animal feeds and most prepackaged meals[citation needed]; soy vegetable oil is another valuable product of processing the soybean crop. For example, soybean products such as textured vegetable protein (TVP) are important ingredients in many meat and dairy analogues.[2]
Traditional nonfermented food uses of soybeans include soymilk, and from the latter tofu and tofu skin. Fermented foods include soy sauce, fermented bean paste, natto, and tempeh, among others. The oil is used in many industrial applications. The main producers of soy are the United States (32%), Brazil (28%), Argentina (21%), China (7%) and India (4%).[3][4] The beans contain significant amounts of phytic acid, alpha-Linolenic acid, and the isoflavones genistein and daidzein.
Soybeans can produce at least twice as much protein per acre as any other major vegetable or grain crop, 5 to 10 times more protein per acre than land set aside for grazing animals to make milk, and up to 15 times more protein per acre than land set aside for meat production.[5]
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Name
The plant is sometimes referred to as greater bean (大豆 - Chinese dàdòu and Japanese daizu). In Vietnam, the plant is called đậu tương or đậu nành.　Both immature soybean and its dish are called edamame in Japan,[6][7] but in English, edamame refers only to a specific dish.
The English word "soy" is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of shōyu (醤油, しょうゆ?), the Japanese word for soya sauce; "soya" comes from the Dutch adaptation of the same word.
Classification
The genus name Glycine was originally introduced by Carl Linnaeus (1737) in his first edition of Genera Plantarum. The word glycine is derived from the Greek - glykys (sweet) and likely refers to the sweetness of the pear-shaped (apios in Greek) edible tubers produced by the native North American twining or climbing herbaceous legume, Glycine apios, now known as Apios americana. The cultivated soybean first appeared in Species Plantarum, by Linnaeus, under the name Phaseolus max L. The combination Glycine max (L.) Merr., as proposed by Merrill in 1917, has become the valid name for this useful plant.
The genus Glycine Willd. is divided into two subgenera, Glycine and Soja. The subgenus Soja (Moench) F.J. Herm. includes the cultivated soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., and the wild soybean, Glycine soja Sieb. & Zucc. Both species are annual. Glycine soja is the wild ancestor of Glycine max and grows wild in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Russia.[8] The subgenus Glycine consists of at least 16 wild perennial species: for example, Glycine canescens F.J. Herm. and G. tomentella Hayata, both found in Australia and Papua New Guinea.[9][10]
Like some other crops of long domestication, the relationship of the modern soybean to wild-growing species can no longer be traced with any degree of certainty. It is a cultural variety with a very large number of cultivars.
Description and physical characteristics
Soy varies in growth and habit. The height of the plant varies from below 20 cm (7.9 in) up to 2 metres (6.6 ft).
The pods, stems, and leaves are covered with fine brown or gray hairs. The leaves are trifoliolate, having 3 to 4 leaflets per leaf, and the leaflets are 6–15 cm (2.4–5.9 in) long and 2–7 cm (0.79–2.8 in) broad. The leaves fall before the seeds are mature. The inconspicuous, self-fertile flowers are borne in the axil of the leaf and are white, pink or purple.
The fruit is a hairy pod that grows in clusters of 3–5, each pod is 3–8 cm long(1–3 inches) and usually contains 2–4 (rarely more) seeds 5–11 mm in diameter.
Nutrition
Further information: Soy protein
For human consumption, soybeans must be cooked with "wet" heat in order to destroy the trypsin inhibitors (serine protease inhibitors). Raw soybeans, including the immature green form, are toxic to humans, swine, chickens, in fact, all monogastric animals.[12]
Soybeans are considered by many agencies to be a source of complete protein.[13] A complete protein is one that contains significant amounts of all the essential amino acids that must be provided to the human body because of the body's inability to synthesize them. For this reason, soy is a good source of protein, amongst many others, for vegetarians and vegans or for people who want to reduce the amount of meat they eat. According to the US Food and Drug Administration:
Soy protein products can be good substitutes for animal products because, unlike some other beans, soy offers a 'complete' protein profile. ... Soy protein products can replace animal-based foods—which also have complete proteins but tend to contain more fat, especially saturated fat—without requiring major adjustments elsewhere in the diet.[13]
However, as with many dietary health claims, there are opposing viewpoints on the health benefits of soybeans.[14][15]
The gold standard for measuring protein quality, since 1990, is the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) and by this criterion soy protein is the nutritional equivalent of meat, eggs, and casein for human growth and health. Soybean protein isolate has a biological value of 74, whole soybeans 96, soybean milk 91, and eggs 97.[16]
Soy protein is essentially identical to that of other legume seeds.[17][18][19] Moreover, soybeans can produce at least twice as much protein per acre than any other major vegetable or grain crop, 5 to 10 times more protein per acre than land set aside for grazing animals to make milk, and up to 15 times more protein per acre than land set aside for meat production.[5]
Consumption of soy may also reduce the risk of colon cancer, possibly due to the presence of sphingolipids.[20]
Genetic modification
Soybeans are one of the "biotech food" crops that have been genetically modified, and genetically modified soybeans are being used in an increasing number of products. In 1995 Monsanto Company introduced Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans that have been genetically modified to be resistant to Monsanto's herbicide Roundup through substitution of the Agrobacterium sp. (strain CP4) gene EPSP (5-enolpyruvyl shikimic acid-3-phosphate) synthase. The substituted version is not sensitive to glyphosate.[46]
In 1997, about 8% of all soybeans cultivated for the commercial market in the United States were genetically modified. In 2010, the figure was 93%.[47] As with other "Roundup Ready" crops, concern is expressed over damage to biodiversity.[48] However, the RR gene has been bred into so many different soybean cultivars that the genetic modification itself has not resulted in any decline of genetic diversity, as demonstrated by a 2003 study on genetic diversity.[49]
In 2010, a team of American scientists announced they had decoded the genome of the soybean - the first legume to be sequenced.[52][53]
Uses
Soybeans can be broadly classified as "vegetable" (garden) or field (oil) types. Vegetable types cook more easily, have a mild nutty flavor, better texture, are larger in size, higher in protein, and lower in oil than field types. Tofu and soy milk producers prefer the higher protein cultivars bred from vegetable soybeans originally brought to the United States in the late 1930s. The "garden" cultivars are generally not suitable for mechanical combine harvesting because there is a tendency for the pods to shatter upon reaching maturity.
Among the legumes, the soybean, also classed as an oilseed, is pre-eminent for its high (38–45%) protein content as well as its high (20%) oil content. Soybeans are the second most valuable agricultural export in the United States behind corn. The bulk of the soybean crop is grown for oil production, with the high-protein defatted and "toasted" soy meal used as livestock feed. A smaller percentage of soybeans are used directly for human consumption.