ABSTRACT

Soybeans are one of the world’s most economical and valuable agricultural commodities (Liu 1997). Due to their high nutritional value and low cost, soybeans have been considered as a good economic alternative to existing animal derived protein sources. Reported health benets of soy include reduced risks of certain cancers (Wang et al. 1999) and cardiovascular diseases (Lovati et al. 2000), reduction of cholesterol (Tovar-Palacio et al. 1998), and the prevention of obesity (Aoyama et al. 2000).