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Soya beans is one of the healthiest meals for babies and young children but guess what? It may not be as healthy as you think. I have received mails from a few mothers asking if soya beans is good for their babies since they themselves have heard from several sources that it affects the bowel of babies and kids making them to stool more than the usual. I have also heard about toxins being present in some food that we eat regularly like garri. Studies have shown that cassava contains toxins and for cassava to be made safe enough to be eaten, it needs to undergo fermentation for a long period and nutritionists advice that the sour garri and the yellow garri (garri mixed with palm oil) are safer to eat.
Back to soya beans, there are actually several substances in unprocessed soybeans that are very unhealthy for you including phytoestrogens, antienzymes, hemagglutinin, phytates and goitrogens and a breakdown of the effect that each of these substances has on the body will follow. Fermentation reduces or eliminates many of these toxic chemicals. Fermented soy products include tempeh and miso; however, processed unfermented soy products still contain many of the harmful ingredients that raw soybeans have.
Phytoestrogens and Goitrogens are present in raw soybeans in the form of isoflavones. There is some controversy over the effect that these non-nutrients have. We should be aware that it is not safe to eat raw or undercooked soya beans. There is no need to avoid them as long as they are thoroughly cooked.
The constant stooling and stomach upset is likely to be as a result of the toxins still present from a poorly cooked and processed soya beans. However it is important to ensure that before we give our babies and kids soya beans, we should make sure that they are thoroughly cooked which will help to eliminate the toxins found in soya beans.
Enjoy!
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