592 
Soy  Bean. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharna. 
I  November,  1897. 
products  is  of  very  ancient  origin,  and  affords  an  interesting  practical 
illustration  of  the  use  of  bacteria  for  economic  purposes. 
Though  these  soy-bean  products  are  prepared  chiefly  in  Japan  and 
other  eastern  countries,  their  manufacture  has  been  attempted  to 
some  extent  in  Switzerland  and  elsewhere. 
The  statement  is  frequently  made  that  the  Japanese  live  almost 
exclusively  upon  rice,  eating  little  or  no  meat.  It  is  not,  however, 
generally  known  that  the  deficiency  of  protein  in  the  rice  is  made 
up  by  the  consumption  of  large  quantities  of  shoyu,  miso,  or  other 
soy  bean  products.  It  is  stated  on  good  authority  that  these  pro- 
ducts actually  take  the  place  of  meat  and  other  nitrogenous  animal 
foods  in  the  Japanese  dietary.  They  are  eaten  in  some  form  or 
other  by  rich  and  poor  at  almost  every  meal. 
A  large  number  of  dietary  and  digestion  experiments  have  been 
•made  in  Japan  in  which  soy  bean  preparations  formed  a  considerable 
part  of  the  food  consumed,  although  no  experiments  have  been 
made,  so  far  as  can  be  learned,  in  which  such  preparations  were 
eaten  alone.  Generally  speaking,  the  nitrogen  was  well  assimilated. 
For  instance,  when  12  grammes  of  nitrogen  were  consumed  daily, 
the  dietary  consisting  of  soy  bean  cheese  and  rice,  onlyo*i  gramme 
of  nitrogen  was  excreted  in  the  feces.  When  13-9  grammes  of  nitro- 
gen was  consumed  daily  in  a  dietary  of  bean  cheese  and  barley, 
only  1  -4  grammes  was  excreted  in  the  feces.  According  to  one 
author,  in  a  dietary  containing  a  large  amount  of  bean  cheese,  90 
per  cent,  ol  the  protein,  89-9  per  cent,  of  the  fat,  and  14-5  per  cent, 
of  the  crude  fiber  are  digestible.  The  general  opinion  of  Japanese 
investigators  and  others  familiar  with  oriental  dietetics  is,  that  the 
protein  in  articles  of  food  prepared  from  soy  beans  is  in  a  very 
available  form,  and  that  these  preparations  are  most  valuable  foods. 
Bean  sausages  in  considerable  variety  are  prepared  in  Germany, 
and  formed  part  of  the  ration  of  the  German  soldier  in  the  Franco- 
Prussian  war.  So  far  as  can  be  learned,  these  are  always  made  from 
ordinary  varieties  of  beans  and  not  from  soy  beans. 
Since  soy  beans  contain  no  starch,  they  have  been  recommended 
as  food  for  persons  suffering  from  diabetes.  A  soy  bean  bread  for 
this  purpose  is  manufactured  in  Paris. 
Under  the  name  of  coffee  beans,  soy  beans  are  eaten  to  some  ex- 
tent in  Switzerland  as  a  vegetable,  and  dried  and  roasted  are  also 
used  as  a  coffee  substitute.    Their  use  for  this  latter  purpose  is  not 
