10/22/99

Contacts:
Pat Murphy, Food Science and Human Nutrition, (515) 294-1970
Brian Meyer, Agriculture Information, (515) 294-0706

FOR POTENTIAL HEALTH BENEFITS OF SOYFOODS, SURF THE WEB

AMES, Iowa -- Consumers can turn to the Internet to find the potential health benefits from eating tofu, drinking soymilk or consuming other soyfoods.

The USDA-Iowa State University Isoflavones Database was launched earlier this year on the World Wide Web. Isoflavones are compounds that mimic the hormone estrogen. They also have antioxidant capability, and may perform other functions that enhance health. For example, scientists suspect isoflavones may help lower the risk of cancer, especially breast and prostate cancer. The database project was partially funded by the U.S. Army Breast Cancer Research Initiative.

"The database contains useful information for researchers, dietitians, clinicians, health professionals and consumers," said Patricia Murphy, professor of food science and human nutrition at Iowa State University. "Consumers can look up particular foods and find out the content of isoflavones."

The USDA scientists who assembled the database relied on Murphy's analyses of isoflavone content in many soyfoods. Murphy and other ISU researchers have been studying isoflavones in soybeans and soyfoods for years.

Because of a recent Food and Drug Administration decision, consumers may be seeing more soyfoods on the market. "Now that the FDA will allow food companies to make health claims on foods containing soy protein, I think we'll see food companies rapidly rolling out a whole new generation of soy products," said Murphy.

The FDA decision will permit soy product labels to make statements about the role of soy in reducing heart disease. The FDA's decision comes at a time when sales of soyfoods in the United States are increasing. In 1980, less than $400 million worth of soyfoods were sold to consumers and the food industry. In 1998, sales had more than quadrupled to $1.7 billion.

The database gives values for the content of isoflavones in more than 140 soyfoods and other food legumes. The products include meatless bacon, infant formulas, soy cheese, soy flour, soy hot dogs and meat patties, soymilk, soy sauce and raw soybeans. Some of the highest isoflavone levels are found in the soy flours, soy meals and raw or cooked food-grade soybeans.

"All the foods in the database were those in which soy was a major component," Murphy said. "We didn't survey foods containing tiny amounts, which would have included such things as doughnuts, cherry juice, canned tuna and beer."

Murphy said the database will be updated as new information on isoflavones in soyfoods becomes available. She plans to analyze more soyfoods that are produced and marketed especially to Asian American populations in larger U.S. cities.

The USDA-Iowa State University Isoflavones Database can be found on the World Wide Web at this address: www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/isoflav/isoflav.html.

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