Is soy lecithin worth supplementing?

Soybeans are not only rich in plant proteins and oils, but also contain biologically active substances that are beneficial to the human body, such as soy lecithin, soy oligosaccharides, soy isoflavones, soy active peptides, soy saponins, etc. With the advancement of nutrition and medicine, the health-care functions of these functional ingredients on the human body are further understood.

Soybean lecithin is one of the by-products during degumming of refined soybean oil, and its content in crude oil is about 1.2 to 3.2%. Soybean lecithin mainly includes lecithin (about 34.2%), cephalin (about 19.7%), inositol phospholipid (about 16.0%), phosphatidylserine (about 15.8%), phosphatidic acid (about 3.6%) and other phospholipids (about 10.7%)

Soy lecithin has strong emulsifying, wetting and dispersing effects. It plays an important role in promoting fat metabolism in the body, protecting the liver, nervous system development and resisting oxidative damage in the body.

Emulsification

Soy lecithin is a natural emulsifier that can prevent the deposition of cholesterol on the inner walls of blood vessels and remove some of the deposits, keeping them suspended and promoting blood circulation. When phospholipids in plasma are too low, the ratio of cholesterol to lecithin increases, and cholesterol deposition causes atherosclerosis, so phospholipids have anti-hypercholesterolemia effects.

Components of cell biofilms

Phospholipids are the basic skeleton of the phospholipid bilayer of biological membranes such as cell membranes, nuclear membranes, and mitochondrial membranes. They are also the main components of various lipoproteins. Phospholipids contain a large amount of unsaturated fatty acids, which can improve the hardening of cell membranes, protect and restore aging cells, and delay aging.

Effects on the nervous system

Phospholipids are essential components of the nervous system. Soy lecithin will produce choline, glycerophospholipids and fatty acids after hydrolysis. Choline continues to be converted into acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter in the body. Therefore, soybean lecithin can improve the body's neurochemical and brain functions, slow down the degeneration and death of brain cells, and enhance memory.

Food supplement

Soy lecithin has been approved for use by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States, Japan, Australia and other countries. In China, soybean lecithin is widely used as a functional factor in various Food supplement.

Reduce blood lipids and prevent arteriosclerosis. Abnormal lipid metabolism in the blood leads to lipid deposition on the blood vessel wall. When the fat in platelets and red blood cells increases the coagulation function, hyperlipidemia such as hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia may occur. Cholesterol deposition causes atherosclerosis.

Lecithin is an effective emulsifier that can emulsify lipids in the blood into particles and reduce the levels of total cholesterol, total triglycerides and LDL cholesterol in the blood. Phospholipids contain unsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol to form cholesterol esters, which reduce cholesterol deposition and prevent arteriosclerosis.

It fully protects liver cells, promotes the activation and regeneration of liver cells, enhances liver function, and is effective in preventing and treating liver diseases, especially fatty liver.

Phospholipids are also useful in improving neurasthenia and alleviating symptoms of neurological disorders. The lecithin in food is digested and absorbed by the body to release choline, which is sent to the brain along with the blood circulation system to promote brain vitality and enhance memory.

Food additives

In the food industry, soy lecithin is commonly used to improve emulsification and antioxidant properties, reduce viscosity, and is also used to combine with starch and protein to improve the physical properties of food.

Soy lecithin is added as an emulsifier to margarine, toffee, chocolate, and milk drinks. In addition to the emulsifying effect of lecithin in margarine, lecithin also plays an antioxidant and stabilizing role, improving the spreadability of cream. Adding soy lecithin, which accounts for 0.2 to 1% of the total fat content, to the toffee can help to evenly mix sugar, fat and water and prevent slippery, gritty, etc. As an emulsifier in chocolate production (adding amount is 0.3~0.5%), it can increase the softness and brittleness of chocolate, significantly reduce the viscosity, expand the processing temperature range, and prevent chocolate from frosting. Lecithin is added to milk drinks to emulsify, thicken, stabilize and prevent stratification.

Adding soy lecithin to frozen dairy products such as ice cream can improve the foaming properties of the ice cream slurry, form fine and stable bubbles, and increase the expansion rate of the ice cream. At the same time, the ice crystals produced when the ice cream is frozen are made small, which prevents lactose from recrystallizing and sanding during the storage of the ice cream, thus giving the ice cream a delicate texture.

Lecithin can also be widely used in the baking process of bread, biscuits, pancakes and cakes. Lecithin quickly moistens the material and reduces the mixing time; it helps stabilize the emulsion; it improves the air-holding properties of the dough and increases the volume of the bread; it serves as a separating agent to make the product demoulding quickly and cleanly.

Spraying lecithin on the surface of powdery products such as milk powder can quickly redissolve and redisperse it, which greatly improves the instant solubility of powdery products. Lecithin can also be used as an antioxidant, which can significantly improve the antioxidant properties of rapeseed oil, sunflower oil and soybean oil.

Feed additives

Soy lecithin can promote animal growth. As a high-energy feed additive, it is often added to the diet to increase the energy concentration of the diet, thereby increasing the rate of weight gain and improving feed conversion rate. Studies have shown that feeding phospholipids to weaned piglets can promote fat utilization, stimulate appetite, promote growth, and reduce mortality and malformation rates of young animals. Adding it to adult animal feed can improve the palatability of the feed, reduce the animal's consumption of methionine and choline, improve protein utilization, relieve stress, and shorten the time for slaughter.

Adding soy lecithin can improve animal disease resistance. Soybean phospholipids regulate cell membrane function, change the fluidity, permeability, receptor function, and membrane-bound enzyme activity of cell membranes, and improve the functions of macrophages and lymphocytes, thereby improving immune function. The linolenic acid in soy lecithin can effectively regulate the production of arachidonic acid, leukotrienes and prostaglandins, accelerate antibody production and reduce inflammatory reactions, and reduce the accumulation of ketone bodies in the liver.

Therefore, soybean phospholipids can enhance the body's immunity and improve the disease resistance and survival rate of livestock and poultry.

Adding soy lecithin to feed can also improve the quality of animal products. Soybean lecithin contains a large amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic acid and linolenic acid, which can promote the normal metabolism of fat, decompose, digest and absorb excess cholesterol, increase lean meat rate, and increase the content of these two essential fatty acids in meat.

HSF Biotech is a professional manufacturer of soy lecithin and soy lecithin liquid. HSF is equipped with modern production equipment, follows scientific production processes, produces strictly according to international production technical standards, and provides customers with high-performance and high-quality Soy Lecithin with excellent service.

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