As we all know, soybean is extremely nutritious and is the only plant food that can replace animal protein, which is very beneficial to the health of women, especially menopausal women. The influence of soybean on women's health is mainly determined by its soybean isoflavones. It is a secondary metabolite formed during the growth of soybean and a kind of bioflavonoids. It is a phytoestrogen with similar structure and estrogenic activity to estrogen. It can exert a weak estrogen-like effect on people with low estrogen level, and can prevent and treat some diseases related to the decline of estrogen level, such as menopausal syndrome, osteoporosis, and elevated blood lipids. For those with high estrogen level (such as breast cancer patients), it shows anti-estrogen activity, can prevent breast cancer and endometrial cancer, prevent Alzheimer's disease, relieve menopausal symptoms of women, reduce cholesterol concentration in human body, promote calcium absorption by human bones, protect cardiovascular system, and has the function of two-way balance adjustment. In addition, soybean isoflavones can also be used as new feed additives, such as pig and chicken feed additives. Its production method is to extract soybean meal or soybean germ by modern separation technology, but it is generally believed that soybean isoflavone extracted from soybean germ is not optimistic in the market.
In recent years, soybean isoflavone has a variety of health care functions, and soybean isoflavone fever has appeared in the United States, Japan, Germany and Britain. Health food with soybean isoflavone as the main component has become a new type of best-selling food, and there are dozens of health foods containing soybean isoflavone in foreign markets. Various preparations of soybean isoflavones, such as tablets, oral liquids and powders, are colorful, and high-purity soybean isoflavones have been applied to the development of pharmaceutical products. As early as 1996, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved soybean isoflavone as a healthy food. According to statistics, the total sales of various soybean isoflavone health foods in the world reached 200-300 million US dollars last year, and the largest producer of such products was ADM Company of the United States. At present, the annual demand for soybean isoflavones in the international market has reached 1500 tons, but the actual annual output is only 300 tons.
In China, soybean isoflavones, as intermediates of food, health care products, especially medicines, are also used as food additives, health food and pharmaceutical ingredients.
According to experts, the concepts of soybean isoflavone food and health food in China have been heated since the previous year. The presence of dozens of enterprises and brands, such as Zhongke Tian Estrogen, Beijing Youqingtai, Huabei Pharmaceutical, Shandong Zhentai, Shanghai Fengyingzi, Sichuan Shogunate and Zhejiang Xinxin, has stirred up a thousand waves like a boulder. The temptation of huge business opportunities has made many enterprises rush.
"At present, soybean isoflavone products are basically sold in the market as functional foods on a global scale, while nearly 90% of soybean isoflavones in China are exported as raw materials, and only about 10% of the output is converted into end products in China. There are 20 or 30 related scientific research units in China, but only 10 enterprises have formed mass production. This cannot but be said to be a pity. " Dr. Yuan, director of beijing university of chemical technology Pharmaceutical Engineering Department, said.
It is reported that beijing university of chemical technology Yuhua Bio-pharmaceutical Engineering Joint Laboratory is the first in China to develop the mass production technology of soybean isoflavones, and its end product is also the first health food with soybean isoflavones as the main raw material in China, which has been approved by the Ministry of Health. Yuan said that at present, there are about 10 large-scale soybean isoflavone production enterprises in China, with a total production capacity of about 70-80 tons and an actual output of only 50 tons. At present, the development of domestic natural estrogen terminal market is still in the primary stage, and the domestic demand for isoflavones is still very low, which is limited to several health food applications and sporadic purchases by many research institutions. Most of the exported soybean isoflavones are raw materials with a content of 40%.
It is understood that the price of soybean isoflavone with a purity of 40% is about RMB per kilogram 1 100, and the price of soybean isoflavone with a purity of 60% ~ 80% reaches RMB 2,000 ~ 3,000 per kilogram. Monomeric isoflavones, such as genistein, which has been proved to be the main functional component, have been sold to 0/0000 yuan per gram/kloc.
At present, the purity of soybean isoflavone raw materials on the market is about 40%. In order to meet the market demand, some enterprises have produced multi-level soybean isoflavone products with different contents. For example, Zhejiang Xinxin Biochemical Technology Co., Ltd. can provide 10% to 80% products of various grades; Heilongjiang Shuanghe Songnen Soybean Bioengineering Co., Ltd. also produces soybean isoflavone powder with a content of 20%-40%, and also produces soybean isoflavone capsules that can be eaten directly.
China is the hometown of soybean, and its output ranks third in the world after the United States and Brazil. However, at present, only a few enterprises in China, such as beijing university of chemical technology Yuhua Biopharmaceutical Engineering Joint Laboratory and Heilongjiang Shuanghe Songnen Soybean Bioengineering Company, have developed soybean isoflavone terminal products directly facing consumers. If the domestic food research department can set up a project to develop more such products as soon as possible, it will not only fill the gap in the domestic market, but also increase the added value of soybean products, benefiting the country and the people.