Trypsin inhibitor activity in commercial soybean products in Japan

The effect of trypsin inhibitor (TI) in soybean on the prevention of cancer has been reported in animal studies. However, the actual intake of active TI in daily life is not known. In this experiment we measured TI activity in various soybean products and the effects of some factors of processing on the TI activity. Average TI activity in whole soybean was 4,819 U/100 g, and the average percentages of remaining activity in products against that of whole soybean were momen-tofu 2.5%, yose-tofu 3.4%, kinugoshi-tofu 4.3%, jyuten-tofu 7.9%, soymilk 13.0%, natto 0.7%, soy sauce 0.8% and miso 0.3%. By heating soymilk at 100 degrees C, TI activity decreased to 11% at 10 min and 5% at 20 min. After heating soymilk in a water-bath for 15 min at 75 and 100 degrees C, TI activity decreased to 35 and 12%, respectively. The TI activity of tofu was proportional to the remaining whey. The effects of chemicals used for the coagulation of soy protein and foam-removal on TI activity were little. The results suggest that soybean products retain 2.5-12.5% TI activity of the whole soybean and that humans are consuming some active TI in their daily lives.