[Soyfoods Symposium 1997 Home Page]

SOYFOODS.COM...Soyfoods in Cyberspace

By Roger H. Stevens, President
Stevens & Associates, Inc.

I am here today to talk about Soyfoods in Cyberspace. For those of you who regularly travel the information highway, you know that it seems there is an incredible amount of information for almost everything on the Internet. And the same is true of soyfoods.

It seems that more and more people every month are getting on the Internet. In the latest report, 21 million households in the U.S. now have computers and modems. Twenty-five percent have some sort of Internet contact, and the bulk of those people have middle to upper incomes... the kind of people who might be interested in information about soyfoods.

Because of these rapidly growing numbers, the soybean farmers of this country have decided to promote the consumption of soyfoods through the Internet, as well as through other activities and programs funded by the United Soybean Board and state soybean marketing organizations, such as the Indiana Soybean Development Council.

We're getting ready to publish the third annual edition of the U.S. Soyfoods Directory. This year we will have an initial print run of 125,000 and distribute most of those to registered dietitians and professional home economists in the country. The directory contains a listing of soyfoods manufacturers in the U.S., along with a glossary of soyfoods and plenty of taste-tested recipes. After sending out the last issue of the directory to members of the American Dietetic Association earlier this year, a survey indicated that more than 90% approved of the directory and would like to continue receiving it each year.

Because we have been so successful with the printed directory, we have converted it to a Web site, which is a good place to start if you are looking for information about soyfoods on the Internet. The Web address is simply soyfoods.com. Like the printed version of the directory, the Web site is drawing attention to itself. We're now averaging more than 50,000 hits per month, up from about a 1,000 when we first started.

Part of the success of the Web site is that we are able to include much more information about soyfoods than we could in a printed directory. The Web site contains the same information as the printed directory, such as:

In addition, the Web site includes:

Most people are unfamiliar with soyfoods, so they often start with the Soyfoods Description page. If we look at tofu, for instance, you can see a single paragraph about tofu, with a link to more information and recipes. If we go further, we are presented with additional information about tofu, including: types, nutritional facts, buying & storing, tips for usage, and, of course, recipes. We try to start people out slowly with a limited number of choices of "easy-to-prepare" and tasty tofu recipes, such as Fruit Smoothie. One additional click and a visitor to the Web site can easily print the recipe at home and be on their way to a delicious soyfood adventure.

If they like the Fruit Smoothie and want more recipes, they can find more than 100 taste-tested recipes in a publication called Simply Soy <http://soyfoods.com/SimplySoy/>, which is published by the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee. The cookbook was prepared by two registered dietitians, Cheryl Sullivan, M.A., R.D., and Kathy Rhodes, Ph.D.,R.D., as a user-friendly guide to soyfoods. Most of the recipes were developed especially for the cookbook, but some have been taken from publications by soybean associations from around the country. Again, this cookbook was originally developed as a printed cookbook and distributed to Michigan residents. In order to make the recipes more widely accessible to consumers in this country and around the world, we have converted the cookbook to a Web site. If you want soyfoods recipes, this is good place to look. All of the recipes were designed to be easily prepared, and they all include nutrition information, which is important for many of the people we are trying to reach.

This Web site includes descriptions of soyfoods and where to find them. The recipes are conveniently categorized by type of meal, so you don't have to browse endlessly trying to find the recipe you want. Although, it is easy to spend a lot of time looking through the recipes. Most of them are quite well done. If you are a Foodservice Director for a school, we also have recipes for you. The United Soybean Board sponsors a program called "Reinventing the Meal with Soy," which is a series of seminars that demonstrate how incorporating more soy protein in school meals will allow directors to cut the fat, but not the taste, from school lunches in a cost-effective way. Seminar participants are given a three-ring binder with general information about soyfoods, meal plans, recipes, product and vendor information, and promotional and marketing materials. We have converted all of this information into a Web site called, appropriately, Reinventing the Meal with Soy <http://soyfoods.com/foodservice/>.

There is more to soyfoods than just recipes though, and the U.S. Soyfoods Directory has more to see. The primary purpose of the directory is to provide information about the U.S. companies that make soyfoods. At this Web site you have the ability to search the database by type of soyfoods, brand name, company name, or state <http://soyfoods/com/directory.html>. For instance, by simply scanning through the list of more than 30 different types of soyfoods, you can easily find the soyfoods companies that produce tofu. There is a long list of companies that carry tofu. By clicking on the name of any company listed, you can get basic information about the company, such as address, phone numbers, and where you can find their products. The database is kept current throughout the year, so you should be able to find the information that you need.

In addition to soyfoods descriptions, recipes and manufacturers, many people want nutritional information about soyfoods. This information is provided through a link to the USDA Nutrient Database <http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl>, which provides more information than most people want. It is relatively quick and easy to find out all you want to know about tofu or any other soyfood.

First, you have to decide if you want:

Tofu raw, firm
Tofu, raw, regular
Tofu, dried-frozen (koyadofu)
Tofu, fried
Tofu, okara
Tofu, salted and fermented (fuyu)
Tofu, raw, firm, prepared with calcium sulfate
Tofu, raw, regular, prepared with calcium sulfate
Tofu, dried-frozen (koyadofu), prepared with calcium sulfate
Tofu, fried, prepared with calcium sulfate
or, Tofu, salted and fermented (fuyu), prepared with calcium sulfate.

Clicking on "tofu, raw", we then have to decide how we would like the nutrition information provided... for 100 grams, 1/2 cup (126.0 g), or 1/4 block (81.0 g). Let's try 1/2 cup. By clicking on the report button we will get the following information: Proximates, such as moisture, energy, and protein minerals (such as calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamins, lipids, and amino acids).

The U.S. Soyfoods Directory also has information about isoflavones and a soymilk calcium chart that list most of the soymilk brands sold in the U.S., along with their calcium content.

For people who want even more information about soyfoods, we have abstracts from the Second International Symposium on "The Role of Soy in Preventing and Treating Chronic Disease" <http://soyfoods.com/symposium/> and to the satellite symposium on "Soy and Infant Health", and isoflavone pharmacokinetics and measurement. The symposium took place in Brussells last year where almost 80 speakers from 18 different countries presented their latest research on the health attributes of soyfoods and soybean components. In addition, there were nearly 40 poster presentations.

A quick review of the index of oral abstracts will give you an idea of the gold mine of information available to anyone who visits this site. Of course, you have to be a scientist to be able to read and understand the information presented here. But, if you are a scientist, this is a good place to find out about much of the soyfoods research around the world. For convenience, we have also include the names, phone numbers and email addresses of the presenters at the symposium. If that is still not enough information about soyfoods for you, we have a list of books about soyfoods currently being published in the U.S. We have included a few of our favorites at the top, but a quick scroll down reveals many different kinds of books, many of which you can order through the Internet. For convenience, we have linked many of the titles to amazon.com, one of the more popular book store sites on the Web.

For food manufacturers we have developed an ancillary Web site that addresses their needs. The site is called "New Foods, New Uses: How Soy Protein Can Expand Your Business." It is based on a publication of the same name, produced by several state soybean organizations, including the Indiana Soybean Development Council. The site contains information about the benefits of soy protein, a market analysis of soy protein, application and product information, as well as a list of soy protein product suppliers.

We have one more source of information about soyfoods that will help you keep up on new information about soyfoods. It is called Soyfoods USA, and it is a monthly email newsletter that you can subscribe to by going to the newsletter Web page and typing in your email address. It's that simple. We have acquired more than 3,000 subscribers in a little less than two years, and we now get more than 300 new subscribers a month. Most of the subscribers classify themselves as consumers, but a good portion of our readers include journalists, scientists, and other professionals.

In each newsletter, we try to keep readers up-to-date on soyfoods research activity, offer tips on how to incorporate soyfoods into their diets, and we always include a couple of recipes as well, which is what most people are looking for, according to our surveys.

If you can't find the information that you are looking for at our Web site, we have included a list of organizations and links to other sites on the Internet. This list includes national and state soybean organizations, as well as other resources. More often than not, I receive questions about the health benefits of soyfoods, which are better answered at the Soy and Human Health Discussion Group <http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~stratsoy/expert/askhealth.html>,which is a part of StratSoy <http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~stratsoy/new/welcome.html>, an information and communication system for the U.S. soybean industry. Funded by the United Soybean Board, StratSoy is developed and maintained by the University of Illinois, with Texas A & M University. The discussion group is monitored by two distinguished individuals. Dr. Clare Hassler provides answers to questions related to soy nutrition, soyfoods, vegetarian nutrition, and the effects of soy consumption on human health, particularly with respect to chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, or osteoporosis. Dr. William Helferich can answer questions about the effects of diet on cancer, specifically individual components of soy which influence the progression of this chronic disease. Biographies of both experts can be found here as well.

To ask a specific question, you simply click the "Ask a Question" button, which brings you to the actual forum itself <http://spectre.ag.uiuc.edu/archives/experts/health/1997>. Here you will find all of the questions and answers posted to the forum in 1997. An archive of the 1996 forum can be obtained by clicking on the "Archive" button. Quit often visitors to this site can find answers to the most common questions about the health benefits of soyfoods. If not, they can easily post a question and receive the answer by email if they sign up at the Ask An Expert page <http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~stratsoy/new/expert.html>. This is a useful addition to the common discussion groups found on the Internet because you don't have to constantly go to the Web site to monitor the discussion. All questions and answers are automatically emailed to everyone who signs on to the "Ask An Expert" forum. At StratSoy, you can also find the the "Soy and Human Health" page <http://spectre.ag.uiuc.edu/%7Estratsoy/soyhealth/>, which carries news, book reviews, research abstracts and links to more soy-related Web sites. Also at StratSoy, you can find the Soybean Utilization Web site <http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~stratsoy/expert/utilize.html>. This forum is monitored by Dr. Karl E. Weingartner, Senior Food Scientist & Assistant Professor, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Among the questions he has answered lately are:

  1. Who uses soyfoods? (Almost everyone);

  2. Why is soy sauce black and soybean drink white? (The difference in color between the two products is due to the different processes used.);

  3. Is it possible to can soymilk? (It is, but the flavor is not as good as fresh soymilk.)

Before we leave StratSoy, I should make you aware of the Functional Foods for Health Web site <http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~ffh/ffh.html>. Functional Foods for Health (FFH) was created by the University of Illinois in response to the growing consumer awareness of the crucial link between diet and health. Directed by Dr. Hasler, who, as I mentioned , is one of the experts monitoring the Soy and Human Health Discussion Group. Functional Foods for Health is dedicated to improving human health and reducing health-care cost through research
and education.

Going back to the U.S. Soyfoods Directory list of other sites, we are presented with Nutrition Matters, Inc. <http://www.olympus.net/messina>, which is operated by Mark and Virginia Messina, perhaps two of the most respected authorities about soyfoods and health in the world.

You may also want to bookmark the American Soybean Association's Web site <http://www.oilseeds.org/asa/welcome.htm>, for general information about the soybean industry. Many of the state soybean organizations have information about soyfoods as well. Of course, you will want to visit the Kentucky Soybean Board's site <http://stratsoy.ag.uiuc.edu/~ky-qssb/welcome.html> because they provide transcripts of presentations made at this, and previous soyfoods symposiums.

Another site to be aware of is the Soy Protein Council <http://www.olympus.net/messina>, whose purpose is to promote the growth and interests of the soy protein industry and broaden the acceptance of soy products as key components of the worldwide food system. Another one of our presenters at this symposium, Peter Golbitz, also has a Web site that may be of interest to some of you. Soya Bluebook Plus Online <http://www.soyatech.com/>, provides a searchable database of the online edition of the oilseed industry's leading processors, marketers, equipment, service companies, and organizations, as well as other information.

More soy-related information can be found at such sites as:

  1. The JOURNAL OF NUTRITION <http://www.faseb.org/ain/journal/journal.html>, which is the official publication of the American Society of Nutritional Sciences (ASNS). Contents include peer-reviewed research papers covering all aspects of experimental nutrition; special articles such as critical reviews and biographies of prominent nutrition scientists; and commentaries on controversial issues in nutrition. Found in the December 1996 issue of Journal of Nutrition is an article entitled, "An Extract of Soy Flour Influences Serum Cholesterol and Thyroid Hormones in Rats and Hamsters."

  2. PHYTOESTROGENS <http://www.siu.edu/~tw3a/cfarsoy.htm>: Chemical and genetic analysis in soybean varieties and effects on animal reproduction by T.A. Winters, W.J. Banz, D.A. Lightfoot, and B.N. Jacobson. Their overall objectives are to chemically and genetically characterize phytoestrogen production in different varieties of soybeans and to determine the effects of soy-related phytoestrogens on mammalian reproductive system differentiation and function. Funded in part by the Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research and Illinois Soybean Program Operating Board.

  3. The AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION <http://www.eatright.org/index.html>

  4. The INTERNATIONAL FOOD INFORMATION COUNCIL (IFIC) FOUNDATION<http://ificinfo.health.org/infoific.htm> provides sound, scientific information on food safety and nutrition to journalists, health professionals, educators, government officials and consumers. International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. The January/February 1997 issue of food Insight, published by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation, includes an article about several Web sites that may be worth bookmarking. They include:

    1. The Food and Drug Administration <http://www.fda.gov/>, one of the more popular government agencies distributing nutrition and health information on the Internet.

    2. The International Culinary and Nutrition Network <http://www.icnn.com/>. helps counter misinformation at the International Culinary and Nutrition Network site. Dietitians, physicians and other experts monitor information distributed through bulletin boards, chat rooms, and question & answer forums at the site.

Although Healthfinder™ <http://www.healthfinder.gov/> does not specifically address the health benefits of soyfoods, Healthfinder™ can lead you to selected online publications, databases, web sites, support and self-help groups, as well as the government agencies and not-for-profit organizations that produce reliable health information for the public. Healthfinder™ is a gateway consumer health information web site from the United States government.

Although it takes a while to download the nutrition page because there are so many listings, it may be worth looking into because of so many listings. It didn't take long, though, to find a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) article about vegetarian diets and how fortified soyfoods can play an important role in providing essential nutrients for those trying vegetarian diets. <http://www.fda.gov/opacom/catalog/vegdiet.html>

What I have shown you today is by no means a complete list of Internet Web sites, where you can find information about soyfoods. A quick search for the word "soy" in Alta Vista, one of many Internet search engines, reveals that there are almost 40,000 Web pages that contain the word. And the list keeps growing.

It is a daunting exercise though, to try to find information about soy by using an Internet search engine. And unless the information you find comes from a known, reliable source, I would caution you about it. Almost anyone can publish information on the Internet. And I would venture to say that much of it is unreliable.

I don't want to discourage you from looking, though. The Internet is rapidly becoming one of the major sources of information for millions of people around the world. It is becoming quick, easy, and affordable for most of us. And as this new technology grows, I expect more and more of you will be getting your information about soyfoods from the Internet. Just remember, the place to start is <http://soyfoods.com/>.

[Soyfoods Symposium 1997 Home Page]