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Soybeans are members of the pea family of vegetables and are a staple in various Asian cuisines. This superfood is popular among vegetarians and vegans due to their high-protein content. If you don’t eat meat, eating soybeans and soy products is a great way to get protein into your vegetarian diet.

Soybeans can boost longevity and help prevent anemia, birth defects, heart disease and some types of cancer. If you wish to reap those benefits, choose fermented soy products like tempeh and miso as they offer a greater benefit than their unfermented counterparts.

That’s according to a 2020 study from Japan, which found that eating fermented soy products is associated with a lower risk of premature death. Eating unfermented soy products, on the other hand, is not.

Fermented soy products boost longevity

For their study, researchers studied more than 90,000 men and women between the ages of 45 and 74 to look for connections between different types of soy products and all-cause mortality.

The participants answered questions about their diets, lifestyles and overall health as part of a previous study. After combing through death certificates and residential registries, the researchers found that 13,303 participants had died since the start of the original research 15 years ago.

Those deaths revealed that a high intake of fermented soy products was associated with a 10 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality, as well as a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. However, a high intake of unfermented soy products was not linked to a reduced risk of death.

Why are fermented soy products better?

Fermented soy products include miso, natto, tempeh and soy sauce. All of these foods are produced through a process called fermentation.

Fermentation involves the use of live microorganisms known as probiotics to convert organic compounds into alcohols or acids. For example, sugars and starches in vegetables and fruits are turned into lactic acid.

Fermentation produces distinctive, strong, slightly sour flavors and makes foods more nutritious by:

• Making them easier to digest. It breaks down sugars and starches in food, which makes them easier to digest. For instance, it dissolves the lactose in milk to simpler sugars like glucose and galactose. If you’re lactose-intolerant, fermented milk-based products like yogurt are easier on your stomach than milk.
• Making nutrients easier to absorb. For instance, it breaks down the anti-nutrient phytic acid, which otherwise binds to minerals like iron and zinc and reduces their bioavailability.
• Enriching foods with probiotics. Fermentation adds probiotics or enhances the naturally occurring beneficial bacteria in food.

Probiotics are associated with a number of health benefits, including:

• Healthy gut – Probiotics restore the natural balance between good and bad bacteria in your gut. An imbalance means there are too many bad bacteria and not enough of good ones. It can cause digestive issues, allergies, mental health problems and obesity, among others.
• Better mental health – Probiotics are good for your brain since gut health affects your mood and mental health. In fact, studies show that supplementing with beneficial strains of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus for one to two months can help reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as improves memory.
• Healthy heart – Certain bacteria that produce lactic acid can lower your blood cholesterol by breaking down bile in your gut. Bile, a naturally occurring fluid in which cholesterol is dissolved, can re-enter your bloodstream if it is reabsorbed in your gut. This, in turn, can lead to clogged arteries. Probiotics help prevent that by breaking down bile in your gut.
• Stronger immune system – Probiotics can help strengthen your immune system by inhibiting the growth of harmful gut bacteria. Studies also show that some probiotics promote the production of natural antibodies and boost the activity of your immune cells.
• Weight loss – Probiotics can help you lose weight in multiple ways. For one, some probiotics prevent dietary fat from getting absorbed into your intestines. The fat is then excreted through your feces instead of getting stored in your body. Good bacteria can also help increase the levels of certain hormones that can cause you to feel full for longer, burn more calories and store less fat.

Fermented soy products contain more protein and fiber than their regular counterparts. Plus, a number of studies have found that fermented soy products can help reduce blood cholesterol, blood pressure and inflammation, thereby preventing Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

In sum, fermented soy products offer more benefits than unfermented soy, thanks to fermentation. Fermentation makes foods easier to digest, increases the bioavailability of nutrients and enriches foods with beneficial probiotics. Choose fermented soy products to maximize the benefits of soybeans.

Sources:

MindBodyGreen.com

BMJ.com

BBCGoodFood.com

Healthline.com

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov