Evolution and Benefits of Soya (Soy) Milk

                                     Introduction

Soya (Soy) milk is a drink made from the soya beans. Soya milk has a high protein and iron. Its color is creamy white, which resembles to the cow’s milk but it is different and better from dairy milk in various ways. It is higher in iron and protein while it is also cholesterol free and have vary low fat and sodium. The people who have allergy from cow’s milk and faces difficulty in digesting the lactose, which is a natural sugar present in the cow’s milk, likes the soya milk because it is easy to digest and it is lactose free.

Evolution

The oldest proof of the production of soya milk is from China, where is incised on the kitchen scene evidence of the use of soya milk on a slab dated AD 25-200. It is also appeared in a book Lunheng that is written by Wang Chong in AD 82, and perhaps the first written record of soya milk. Evidence that soya milk is rare before the 20^th century and its widespread use before that is not likely to happen.

According to the famous custom in china, soya milk was developed for medical purposes by the Liu An, however there is no past evidence of this myth. This myth first appeared in the beginning of 12^th century and did not clearly specify until the 15^th century, where formation of tofu was imputed to Liu without any name of soya milk. Later the writers of west and Asia credited the development of soya milk to Liu, considering that Liu could not have made the tofu without making of soya milk first.

The Henry Trimble first introduced soya milk in United States of America in 1897 and referred it in the American journal of pharmacy. The Li Yu-ying, a Chinese man living in Paris in 1911, founded the world’s first soya milk factory. The first commercial soya milk was produced in 1918 by Chard soya products in the New York City.

The Madison foods company was the first company in the world who introduced the calcium fortified soya milk in 1932 in Tennessee. The faculty of Madison College was controlling the Madison foods company. Miller started to produce the soya milk in cans in 1940, which was known as Soya La, because at that time dairy industries created issues and stopped miller from calling the product soya milk. 

                                 Benefits 

Soya milk has almost the same quantity of proteins as present in cow’s milk, however it has different amounts of amino acids. Naturally the soya milk has a low amount of digestible calcium as it is confined to the pulp of the beans, which is not digestible by humans. To solve this usually the manufacturers adds the amount of calcium carbonate to their products. Soya milk has less saturated fat and zero cholesterol as compared to the cow’s milk.

Soya milk does not have any amount of galactose which is a product of lactose breakdown so the soya milk can safely and easily used as a substitute of breast milk in children which are suffering from a disease called galactosemia.

The American Academy of Pediatrics said that soya milk is better substitute for children who are unable to digest cow or human milk. Purine is an element in soya bean, which is not suitable for the patients suffering from gout. The united states national institutes of health suggests gout sufferers not to use soya bean products however they also recommends the use of soya products because they help in reducing the heart diseases.

Mostly the soya milk products are sweetened but soya milk itself is unsweetened. People in china used the salted soya milk. Soya milk is very famous in the culture of Malaysia and also in the other southeast countries of Asia. Soya milk is mostly mixed up and flavored with the brown/white sugar syrup in Malaysia. In Malaysia, sellers of soya milk also offered different kinds of products made from soya milk like bean curd, tau hua which is a desert like custard and these things are also flavored with the same syrup of brown or white sugar. In Vietnam, soya milk and soya custard is mixed up with the ginger and a herb, which has a taste like coconut.Yeo’s, a manufacturer of drinks in Singapore and Malaysia introduced the boxed packed or tinned packing version of soya milk.

Soya milk has become popular in the west and it is used as a substitute of cow’s milk because it has same protein and less fat contents then the cow’s milk. Soya milk is available in the market in many flavors like chocolate, vanilla however originally it is has no flavour. Soya milk is popular everywhere in the world except few countries because of zero cholesterol  and other major health benefits.