More than the Ordinary Taho

Philippines When an ordinary Pinoy thinks soy, it is often associated with that warm sweet drink that street vendors with large tin containers proffer each morning or that dark salty sauce that goes perfectly well with calamansi. But a Pinoy scientist recently returned home from his lab in the U.S. in order to extol the many joys that soy can bring, through its health benefits.

University of the Philippines – Los Banos alum, and current lead advisor for Soy Labs LLC in Missouri U.S.A., Dr. Alfredo Galvez recently gave a media talk about the Soy peptide called Lunasin, which is said to be key to having good heart health and other advantages. “In the 1990s, there were already several studies about how daily soy consumption reduced the risk of heart disease. In fact, I already presented a talk here at UP Diliman about the positive effects of Lunasin, which by the way, goes back to my Filipino roots, because the word Lunas means ‘solution’,” he says.

However, these exciting findings fell by the wayside when soy products started getting mass produced and the success rate numbers started to drop. The thing is, Galvez explains, through the wrong kind of processing, the needed soy peptide is inactivated. The quality and variety of the soy plant that is processed also has a bearing on the end product, and Galvez avers that plants from China do not have the same nutrient yield as the ones from the U.S.

When from the right plants and properly processed, Lunasin can help head off heart disease by working in the liver to carry out cholesterol synthesis and produce less cholesterol, and increasing LDL receptors to help extract more cholesterol from the blood stream, and thereby prevent plaque buildup in the arteries. “Sometimes, even a healthy diet and exercise may not be enough to prevent cholesterol problems,” he cautions. Then he adds that the medication that is usually prescribed for heart patients, called statins, are less effective because they work by blocking the cholesterol-producing enzyme after it has been produced. The danger there is that statins may work too well and block too much of the enzyme, even though the body needs a small amount of cholesterol for certain necessary cellular functions such as maintaining cell membrane integrity and hormone production. With Lunasin, those who want their tickers running smoothly have a better alternative. There are also ongoing studies on the effects of this soy protein in cancer prevention, wherein it can actually prevent the expression of genes that lead to the formation of tumors.

Galvez’ work at Soy Labs has helped bring interest back in this important soy component, and it is to be launched soon as one of the main components in products that are distributed by direct-selling nutritional health company Reliv, such as Reliv Classic, Reliv Now (for daily nutrition), Innergize (sports drink), Simplicity (for weightloss), Arthaffect (for healthy joints), FibRestore (for heart health), Glucaffect (for blood sugar management).

source: Manila Bulletin