What are soybeans used for (other than soy sauce)?

[bluemoonKY]

I drive all over America in my job as a trucker. When I am in the Midwest and sometimes in the South, I frequently see large fields of soybeans grown over many, many acres. Soybeans growing appears to be a fairly large industry. I also know that people frequently trade large quantities of Soybean Futures in the Commodity Exchange markets.

I presume that soybeans are used to make soy sauce (just because of the name), but soybean growing & soybean commodity exchange trading cannot be that gigantic of an industry just for soybeans used to make soy sauce. Soybeans must be used in other applications. Perhaps soybeans are used in industry to help make some other type of produce (as corn is used to make ethanol, for instance).

What are soybeans used for other than soy sauce?

 

[Sagar Singh]

in INDIA there are many uses, don't know about your country, and no use of telling you INDIAN things, you might not get it, and you can simply google this type of question my dear friend
:D

 

[phinds]

All I can tell you is that some years back my cardiologist recommended that I eat a good-sized handfull every day. I had to quit after a month or two. Really didn't like those little suckers.

 

[Evo]

Soybeans are used in a practice called "crop rotation" that increases corn yields. If you'll notice, some years a field will be corn, the next it will be soy. Most of the small farms that use soy beans in crop rotation use the beans as animal feed, as is the corn. I'm surrounded by many small farm plots that do this.

Soy also has many uses for humans, there is tofu, soy milk, soy protein as additives in foods and the beans themselves are delicious and have become popular as a stand alone vegetable, unfortunately this has caused the price in grocery stores for human consumption to go through the roof. I just paid $3.09 for a pound of raw soybeans, they are now the most expensive frozen vegetable in my store.

http://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/farmschool/nature/soy.htm

http://ussec.org/why-u-s-soy/soy-utilizations/animal-feed/

 

[phinds]

... and the beans themselves are delicious ...

AAAARRRRGGGHHH ! Not true !

Well,OK, for ME it's not true. Or maybe they're better if you put them with other stuff that masks how dry and boring they are

 

[Evo]

AAAARRRRGGGHHH ! Not true !

Well,OK, for ME it's not true. Or maybe they're better if you put them with other stuff that masks how dry and boring they are

Well, the recipe I had called for boiling them in a small amount of water for a couple of minutes, then sauteeing them in butter, a pinch of red pepper flakes or cayenne, salt and pepper. They're now my favorite vegetable.

 

[WWGD]

I read that there is some chemical in soy that mimics estrogen (or whose effects are similar to those of estrogen), which (may?) lead to the development of women-like traits if one consumes too much of it: larger breasts, fall of hair, etc. Maybe those here who know more about biology/chemistry (likely just-about everyone else in this forum) can confirm/deny this .

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/eating-soy-increase-estrogen-production-2870.html

http://www.livestrong.com/article/525809-soy-milk-and-estrogen-levels/

 

[phinds]

Well, the recipe I had called for boiling them in a small amount of water for a couple of minutes, then sauteeing them in butter, a pinch of red pepper flakes or cayenne, salt and pepper. They're now my favorite vegetable.

Yeah, that sounds a LOT better than just eating them dry.

EDIT: now that I think about it, your concoction would probably be even better if you just left out the soy beans

 

[Evo]

I read that there is some chemical in soy that mimics estrogen (or whose effects are similar to those of estrogen), which (may?) lead to the development of women-like traits if one consumes too much of it: larger breasts, fall of hair, etc. Maybe those here who know more about biology/chemistry (likely just-about everyone else in this forum) can confirm/deny this .

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/eating-soy-increase-estrogen-production-2870.html

http://www.livestrong.com/article/525809-soy-milk-and-estrogen-levels/

Debunking soybean myths.

Fact: The concerns about the estrogen-like activities of soy have caused some to worry that soy products could decrease a man's testosterone, but clinical studies don't support this fear. There are at least two reports of men who have experiencedfeminizing changes in their bodies (one of whom had Type 1 diabetes) afterconsuming high doses of soy, but even at higher-than-average rates of consumption -- higher even than what's typical among Asian cultures -- science has found no evidence to caution men against eating soy. In fact, men may even benefit from some dietary soy, as it seems to decrease prostate cancer risk.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/15/soy-myths_n_5571272.html

Here is a study

Soybean isoflavone exposure does not have feminizing effects on men: a critical examination of the clinical evidence.

RESULT(S):
In contrast to the results of some rodent studies, findings from a recently published metaanalysis and subsequently published studies show that neither isoflavone supplements nor isoflavone-rich soy affect total or free testosterone (T) levels. Similarly, there is essentially no evidence from the nine identified clinical studies that isoflavone exposure affects circulating estrogen levels in men. Clinical evidence also indicates that isoflavones have no effect on sperm or semen parameters, although only three intervention studies were identified and none were longer than 3 months in duration. Finally, findings from animal studies suggesting that isoflavones increase the risk of erectile dysfunction are not applicable to men, because of differences in isoflavone metabolism between rodents and humans and the excessively high amount of isoflavones to which the animals were exposed.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20378106

 

[dlgoff]

When I am in the Midwest ..., I frequently see large fields of soybeans grown over many, many acres.

Yep and not a weed in those fields because they are Roundup Ready.

 

[Evo]

Do you know that there is a top secret experimental farm near me? They had glow in the dark corn decades ago. You can only enter and leave through armed guards at a gate house. There are tall walls all the way around, I only noticed the glow at night cresting a nearby hill, otherwise, you cannot see what they are doing in there.

 

[wukunlin]

In places like Taiwan, soybean oil is a very popular cooking oil. Although it isn't really meant to be edible, they were originally used for oil painting and printing

 

[phinds]

... it isn't really meant to be edible ...

YES! I knew it!

 

[wukunlin]

YES! I knew it!

well, the beans themselves are perfectly edible, it is the process that extracts soybean oil that is rather undesirable.

 

[phinds]

well, the beans themselves are perfectly edible ...

Yes, in the same sense that spinach and liver are edible. None of these things will kill you, but why would you want to subject yourself to them?

 

[wabbit]

Yes, in the same sense that spinach and liver are edible. None of these things will kill you, but why would you want to subject yourself to them?

Hmm.. One of my favorites, veal liver served with sauteed fresh spinach.

 

[phinds]

Hmm.. One of my favorites, veal liver served with sauteed fresh spinach.

Yeah, but you're a damned rabbit! I'm a healthy dog.

 

[phinds]

Hm ... has this thread drifted a bit ?

 

[StatGuy2000]

Soybeans are used in a practice called "crop rotation" that increases corn yields. If you'll notice, some years a field will be corn, the next it will be soy. Most of the small farms that use soy beans in crop rotation use the beans as animal feed, as is the corn. I'm surrounded by many small farm plots that do this.

Soy also has many uses for humans, there is tofu, soy milk, soy protein as additives in foods and the beans themselves are delicious and have become popular as a stand alone vegetable, unfortunately this has caused the price in grocery stores for human consumption to go through the roof. I just paid $3.09 for a pound of raw soybeans, they are now the most expensive frozen vegetable in my store.

http://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/farmschool/nature/soy.htm

http://ussec.org/why-u-s-soy/soy-utilizations/animal-feed/

In addition to the use of soybeans as crop rotation and animal feed (and human consumption), soybeans are also a source of soybean oil, which is used as vegetable oil as well as in processed foods. Soybeans are also used in industrial products such as soaps, oils, cosmetics, resins, plastics, solvents, and clothing. Soybean oil is also a major source of biodiesel in the US, and soybeans have been used since 2001 as fermenting stock in the manufacture of vodka. See the Wikipedia page below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean

 

[rootone]

They are easy to grow and produce copious amounts of protein which mostly is used by industrial food processing, as well as a versatile oil which is a starting point for hundreds of derivative products, (as is mineral oil)

 

[dlgoff]

Yeah, but you're a damned rabbit! I'm a healthy dog.

I can hardly type with all the tears in my eyes and the spit on the keyboard.