Soy milk (also called soya milk, soymilk, soybean milk, or soy bean juice) and s ometimes referred

to as soy drink/beverage is a beverage made from soybeans. A t raditional staple of Chinese and Japanese cuisine, it is a stable emulsion of oi l, water, and protein. It is produced by soaking dry soybeans and grinding them with water. Soy milk contains about the same proportion of protein as cow's milk : around 3.5%; also 2% fat, 2.9% carbohydrate, and 0.5% ash. Soy milk can be mad e at home with traditional kitchen tools or with a soy milk machine. The coagulated protein from soy milk can be made into tofu, just as dairy milk c an be made into cheese ORIGIN The oldest evidence of soy milk production is from China where a kitchen scene p roving use of soy milk is incised on a stone slab dated around AD 25 220.[1] It al so appeared in a chapter called Four Taboos (Szu-Hui) in the AD 82 book called L unheng by Wang Chong, possibly the first written record of soy milk. Evidence of soy milk is rare prior to the 20th century and widespread usage before then is unlikely.[1] According to popular tradition in China, soy milk was developed by Liu An for me dicinal purposes, although there is no historical evidence for this legend.[1] T his legend first appeared in the 12th century and was not clearly stated until l ate 15th century in Bencao Gangmu, where the development of tofu was attributed to Liu with no mention of soy milk. Later writers in Asia and the West additiona lly attributed development of soy milk to Liu An, assuming that he could not hav e made tofu without making soy milk. This may be incorrect. In addition, some re cent writers claim Liu An developed tofu in 164 BC PREVALENCE Plain soy milk is unsweetened, although some soy milk products are sweetened. Sa lted soy milk is prevalent in China.[3] The drink is very popular in the hawker culture of Malaysia and many other South east Asian countries, with it being a standard offering accompanying meals at Ma laysian Chinese stalls. In Malaysia, soybean milk is usually flavoured with eith er white or brown sugar syrup. The consumer also has the option to add grass jel ly, known as leong fan or "cincau" (in the Malay language, adopted from the Chin ese equivalents) to the beverage. Sellers of soybean milk in Penang usually also offer bean curd, a related custard-like dessert, known to the locals as tau hua which is flavored with the same syrup as the soybean milk. In Indonesian it is known as "susu kedele". In Vietnam, the soymilk as well as the soy custard may b e flavored with ginger or pandan, a grassy herb with a mild coconut-like flavor. More recently (since 2008), other optional additions to soymilk have become pop ular among street vendors and drink stalls around Southeast Asia, including tapi oca pearl, sweetened red bean, honey, and black tea. Yeo's, a drink manufacturer in Singapore and Malaysia, markets a commercialized tinned or boxed version of soybean milk.[4] The drink is slowly becoming popular in India as well, where it widely sold in T etrapaks by various brands like Staeta. In the West, soymilk has become a popular alternative to cow's milk, with a roug hly similar protein and fat content.[5] Soy milk is commonly available in vanill a and chocolate flavors as well as its original unflavored form. In some Western countries where veganism has made inroads, it is available upon request at cafs and coffee franchises as a cow's milk substitute. However it should be noted tha t soy milk is not always suitable for vegans, or even vegetarians.[citation need ed] The fortified vitamin D may be derived from lanolin, and many[citation neede d] soy milk products still contain added dairy. HEALTH IMPACT Soy milk has about the same amount of protein (though not the same amino acid pr ofile) as cow's milk. Natural soy milk contains little digestible calcium as it

is bound to the bean's pulp, which is insoluble in humans. To counter this, many manufacturers enrich their products with calcium carbonate available to human d igestion. Unlike cow's milk, it has little saturated fat and no cholesterol. Soy products contain sucrose as the basic disaccharide, which breaks down into g lucose and fructose. Since soy doesn't contain galactose, a product of lactose b reakdown, soy-based infant formulas can safely replace breast milk in children w ith galactosemia.[6] Like lactose-free cow's milk, soymilk contains no lactose, which makes it a good alternative for lactose-intolerant people. For patients wi thout conditions that limit which sugars they can consume, there is no evidence to support any sugar-related health benefit or detriment to consuming soy milk i nstead of cow's milk. The American Academy of Pediatrics considers soy milk a suitable alternative for children who cannot tolerate human or cow's milk, or whose parents opt for a ve gan diet. They find no medical benefit to using soy milk instead of human or cow 's milk.[7] Soy milk, like cow's milk, varies in fat content, but the most commonly sold var ieties have less fat than whole milk, similar fat content to 2% milk, and more f at than skim/nonfat milk.[8] Though it has been suggested that soy consumption is associated with a reduction in low-density lipoprotein ("bad cholesterol") and triglycerides,[9] a 2006 stu dy of a decade of soy protein consumption found no association between soy intak e and health benefits such as cardiovascular health or cancer rates, and no bene fit for women undergoing menopause. Soy was able to replace animal protein, food s high in saturated fats, and other sources of dietary fiber, vitamins and miner als.[10] However, much of the mineral content in soy milk is unassimilable becau se of high content of phytic acid in soy milk. If soy milk is made into tempeh, the phytic acid content is cut in half.[11] Preparation A glass of Malaysian Soy milk with package. Soy milk can be made from whole soybeans or full-fat soy flour. The dry beans ar e soaked in water overnight or for a minimum of 3 hours or more depending on the temperature of the water. The rehydrated beans then undergo wet grinding with e nough added water to give the desired solids content to the final product. The r atio of water to beans on a weight basis should be about 10:1. The resulting slu rry or pure is brought to a boil in order to improve its nutritional value by hea t inactivating soybean trypsin inhibitor, improve its flavor and to sterilize th e product. Heating at or near the boiling point is continued for a period of tim e, 15 20 minutes, followed by the removal of an insoluble residue (soy pulp fiber or okara) by filtration. There is a simple yet profound difference between traditional Chinese and Japane se soy milk processing: the Chinese method boils the filtrate (soy milk) after a cold filtration, while the Japanese method boils the slurry first, followed by hot filtration of the slurry. The latter method results in a higher yield of soy milk but requires the use of an anti-foaming agent or natural defoamer during t he boiling step. Bringing filtered soy milk to a boil avoids the problem of foam ing. It is generally opaque, white or off-white in color, and approximately the same consistency as cow's milk. For all raw soybean protein products, heat is necessary to destroy the activity of the protease inhibitors naturally present in the soybean. The pancreas natura lly secretes proteases to digest a protein meal. Eating raw soybeans on a regula r basis causes the pancreas to hypersecrete, leading to benign tumors of the pan creas.

When soybeans absorb water, the endogenous enzyme, Lipoxygenase (LOX), EC 1.13.1 1.12 linoleate:oxidoreductase, catalyzes a reaction between polyunsaturated fatt y acids and oxygen {hydroperoxidation}. LOX initiates the formation of free radi cals, which can then attack other cell components. Soybean seeds are the richest known sources of LOXs. It is thought to be a defensive mechanism by the soybean against fungal invasion. In 1967, experiments at Cornell University and the New York State Agricultural E xperiment Station at Geneva, NY led to the discovery that paint-like, off-flavor s of traditional soy milk can be prevented from forming by a rapid hydration gri nding process of dehulled beans at temperatures above 80 C. The quick moist heat treatment inactivates the LOX enzyme before it can have a significant negative e ffect on flavor. All modern bland soy milks have been heat treated in this manne r to destroy LOX. In 1969, Mattick and Hand[14] at Cornell University made the important discovery that most of the so-called beany flavor in soybeans was not inherent in the bea ns themselves but was produced by the enzyme lipoxygenase when the split beans c ame in contact with water. Lipoxygenase could be inactivated and most of the bea ny flavor removed by either dropping unsoaked soybeans directly into boiling wat er or by removing any cracked or split beans prior to soaking, then carefully dr opping the soaked beans into boiling water. Normal mature soybeans actually contain three LOX isozymes (SBL-1, SBL-2, and SB L-3) important for undesirable flavor development. One or more of these isozymes have recently (1998) been removed genetically from soybeans yielding soy milk w ith less cooked beany aroma and flavor and less astringency. An example of a tri ple LOX-free soybean is the American soybean named "Laura". The University of Illinois has developed a soy milk that makes use of the entire soybean. What would normally constitute "insolubles" are ground so small by hom ogenization as to be in permanent suspension. Commercial products labeled "soy drink" in the West are commonly sold in countri es where the word "milk" is available by law only for cow milk COOKING Soy milk is found in many vegan and vegetarian food products and can be used as a replacement for cow's milk in many recipes. "Sweet" and "salty" soy milk are both traditional Chinese breakfast foods, serve d either hot or cold, usually accompanied by breads like mantou (steamed rolls), youtiao (deep-fried dough), and shaobing (sesame flatbread). The soy milk is ty pically sweetened by adding cane sugar or, sometimes, simple syrup. "Salty" soy milk is made with a combination of chopped pickled mustard greens, dried shrimp and, for curdling, vinegar, garnished with youtiao croutons, chopped scallion (s pring onions), cilantro (coriander), meat floss (??; rus?ng), or shallot as well as sesame oil, soy sauce, chili oil or salt to taste. Soy milk is used in many kinds of Japanese cuisine, such as in making yuba as we ll as sometimes a base soup for nabemono. In Korean cuisine, soy milk is used as a soup for making kongguksu, cold noodle soup eaten mostly in summer. Tofu is produced from soy milk by further steps of curdling and then draining. Soy milk is also used in making soy yogurt, soy cream, soy kefir and soy based c heese analogues.