COLUMBUS, Ohio - A team of scientists at The Ohio State University has somethin' in the oven: the first soy bread that's both good for your heart and easy on the taste buds, too.
"This is the first baked good that can legitimately carry the FDA claim that consuming it is associated with a lower risk of heart disease," says Dr. Yael Vodovotz, an assistant professor of food science. "It's a big deal."
It's an even bigger deal that people actually like the bread.
"The problem with soy products is that they just don't taste good to a lot of people," says Vodovotz. "They sometimes have that beany flavor."
The world is full of soy products-everything from soy milk and soy cookies to soy candles and crayons, but nothing is as ubiquitous as bread. For Vodovotz, it became the Holy Grail - to develop an affordable product that could be happily consumed every day, last a long time, and most importantly, taste good. Bingo. Bread.
Vodovotz says the bread is a little dense and chewy, and looks very much like white bread. Just to get the numbers straight, the FDA says in order to get the heart-healthy benefits of soy, consumers have to eat at least 25 grams of soy protein daily. For a soy product to meet this claim, a serving needs to provide 6.25 grams of soy protein, as well as be low in fat, low in saturated fat, and low in cholesterol. Vodovotz says their soy bread meets all of those requirements.
She and one of her students, Cory Ballard, a food scientist who is also a baker by trade, have been working on the secret soy bread recipe for months. They've field tested it at local grocery stores, and are currently negotiating an agreement to license the product to a bakery in Cleveland. It's a family-owned business that bakes and markets to grocery stores in four states. It could be just the beginning. Because soy has shown demonstrable success in preventing some kinds of cancers, "everyone wants to use it," say
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Contact: Michelle Gailiun
gailiun.1@osu.edu
614-293-3737
Ohio State University Medical Center
6-Dec-2001