Lumen Foods' Isoflavone Breakthrough

ome soyfoods producers are touting their "total isoflavones," based on the fact that many unrefined soy products have as much as ten times as many "conjugated" isoflavones -- that is, "bound" molecules not available for use by the body -- as they do "free" isoflavones, those available for use by the body. Lumen Foods' has created a special process which dramatically increases the free-to-bound ratios. Although roasted soybeans have about 120 mg. per 1/2 oz. serving of "total isoflavones" compared to Heartline's 22 mg., the actual "free" isoflavones are about the same -- meaning that the active components are about the same in both.
Thus, the "total isoflavone" approach is actually deceptive.
Genistein and daidzein are "free" compounds -- the center of the most recent attention in soy phytochemistry. Lumen Foods' meat replacement products average better than 84% in their free-to-total isoflavone ratios. Such high ratios are not statistically insignificant, Genistin-glucoside and daidzin-glucoside are their "conjugated" versions, and can be broken down into genistein and daidzein, but only by complex chemical reactions not performed in the small intestines of humans.

Lumen Foods
Product Name
Genistein (mgm/g) Daidzein (mgm/g) Genistin (mgm/g) Daidzin (mgm/g) Total Isoflavones
Isoflavone "type" free free bound bound -----
Heaven on Earth 79 46 49 14 188
Cajun Jerky (Beef) 386 186 59 17 648
Heartline Beef Fillet 210 137 63 18 428
Heartline Chix Fillet 220 154 66 19 459
Replacement Avg.* 255 163 58 17 493

* Analysis performed by the Center for Advanced Food Technology at Rutgers University, New Jersey. All figures are in micrograms per gram. That final row of figures is the average of the three preceeding meat replacement products. Note that for all Heartline products above, 1.6 oz. of product equals 1/2 cup. This is useful to know if comparing Heartline products with chemical analyses of other soy-based products. Using simple math to convert, the final averages above thus show that Lumen Foods' meat replacement products averaged 11.58 mg. of genistein in a 1/2 cup serving (255 mgm/g), or over half (51.72%) of the 22.38 mg. per serving (493 mgm/g) of "total isoflavones." No other soy-based product has reported nearly as high a free-to-bound composition.


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