Introduction

As more consumers are becoming interested in improving their health, soy foods have become increasingly popular in Australia, New Zealand and many other Western countries.

Not many years ago, soy foods were primarily the domain of vegetarians, and infants thriving on soy-based infant formula. Most people thought of soy foods as traditional Asian foods such as tofu, tempeh and miso. Now, however, a greater variety of soy foods are available, such as soy beverages, yoghurts, soy cheese, breads, breakfast cereals and meat alternatives like burger patties, soy sausages and sandwich slices.

The table below provides some great tasting foods to try:

Soy food	Serving Size	Soy Protein (g/serve)	Fat (g/serve)
Low fat soy beverage, soy protein based	250ml	8.8	3.8
Low fat soy beverage, wholebean	250ml	4.3	2.0
Low Fat Soy Based Ice Cream Alternative	100ml	1.9	2.2
Flavoured soy beverage	300ml	9.3	4.5
Soy custard, vanilla	100g	3.2	1.0
Soy yoghurt, regular	200g	5.4	2.6
Original Soy Burgers	60g	7.8	3.9
Tofu	100g	11.0	5.0
Soy containing Bread	2 slices (80g)	2.8	5.6
Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)	½ cup (70g), prepared	12	0.1
Soybeans, cooked	½ cup (100g)	9	5.5
Tempeh	½ cup (70g)	10	7

Sources: Product package information

Soy foods vary in their protein content, so consumers should check nutrition panels on their favourite soy foods and beverages to ensure that they are getting the effective daily intake of soy protein for health benefits.