WE GAVE THEM BEANS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 165, 21 August 1942, Page 14

WE GAVE THEM BEANS

(Written for "The Listener"

by DR.

MURIEL

BELL

Nutritionist to the

Department of Hezlth)

HE chief source of protein food for hundreds of millions of people is the Soya bean. The Eastern races have used it since the dawn of civilisation, and indeed 75 per cent of the Soya bean production of the world has been in Manchukuo; Chosen (Korea) comes second. But latterly, both Germany and the United States have realised the value of this foodstuff and, indeed, Germany has used it with characteristic application of scientific method in her intensive blitzkrieg methods during the present war. Frank Wokes in his book in the Penguin series — states that the Germans were able to conserve transport by using the lowly Soya bean as food in their attacks on Poland, Belgium and France. Not so lowly after all, this Soya bean -for, listen to its virtues: Soya beans have more energy value weight for weight than any other protein food. Soya bean flour contains more protein than any other food except dried egg white. Unlike most vegetable food, its chief protein (called glycinin), has high nutritional qualities, for it is a complete protein. This is another way of saying that, like the animal proteins, it contains all the building stones necessary for growth. That is why Chinese babies do so well on "Soya bean milk." And in fact, sometimes New Zealand babies who are unable to take cow’s or human milk, make good progress with milk made from Soya bean flour. It contains many of the vitamins-the B-factors ate provided in great abundance: the bean itself contains both A and D, though these are lost when the oil is removed; if the bean is allowed to sprout, it develops Vitamin C, and at the same time loses its rather bitter, beany flavour. Mineral Wealth It contains an abundance of minerals, Comparing it with dried milk, it contains eight times as much iron, twice as much magnesium, half as much phosphorus, and a quarter as much calcium, Where the beans are grown abundantly, as in U.S.A., it is the cheapest source of food calcium. Here in New Zealand, milk is the cheapest way of getting our food calcium. The oil in the beans is liable to become rancid unless it is removed or suitably treated. One method of treat-~ ment is to heat the beans. This treatment has the advantage of making the proteins more digestible. If the treatment is not too drastic, the vitamin value will not be too badly injured. Because it is relatively low in carbohydrate, it has enjoyed some popularity as a diabetic food. Many things in addition to food can be made from Soya beans. They have been publicised by Henry Ford in U.S.A. for their multiplicity of virtuesas a basis for making paints, and for many other industrial purposes. (NEXT WEEK: "Early Sex Questions," by DR. TURBOTT)