The Food Issue
2015
Grains
West
10
TABLE
TALK
IN MARCH, HEALTH CANADA
approved the use of a health claim linking
regular soy consumption to reduced
cholesterol.
For more than three years, Canadian
soy industry group Soy 20/20, Agricul-
ture and Agri-Food Canada and contract
research organization Nutrasource Diag-
nostics worked together to make the claim
a reality. Similar claims already exist in
other countries, including the United
States, Brazil and Japan.
“When those claims, particularly in the
U.S., came into play, it really helped the
whole business move forward,” said Je
Schmalz, CEO of Soy 20/20. “It created an
environment where the soy food business
could take o .”
According to the new claim, consump-
tion of at least 25 grams of soy protein
daily helps reduce cholesterol, which is a
risk factor for heart disease.
Soy foods have other health benefits as
well. Soybeans are a good source of calci-
um and iron, are cholesterol free and con-
tain isoflavones—antioxidants thought to
have health benefits. Soy is also a source
of high-quality, complete protein.
“Typically, consumers get their protein
from animal protein or whey protein,
which is cheese,” Schmalz said. “There
are other sources, and, in this case, soy
protein is a very e ective protein. It has
all the amino acids that are needed for
human health.
“Sometimes with animal protein there’s
a fairly high level of saturated fat that
goes along with it. One of the benefits of
soy protein is that it has a great, healthy
profile, and it doesn’t have any of the
saturated fats.”
According to Schmalz, the Canadian soy
market is worth $400 to 500 million, about
10 per cent of the value of the U.S. market.
In Alberta, a small number of soy-
beans are grown on the irrigated land
in the southern portion of the province.
Industry estimates indicate that roughly
10,000 to 12,000 acres of soybeans were
grown in Alberta in 2014. Currently,
the crop can only be grown in south-
ern Alberta, because existing varieties
require plenty of warm weather to reach
maturity.
Ron Gietz, co-author of a 2014 Alberta
Agriculture and Rural Development (now
Alberta Agriculture and Forestry) report
on the potential for soybeans in Alberta,
said the development of new varieties that
require less heat to mature is crucial if
soybeans are going to capture more acres
in the province. That being said, more and
more Alberta farmers are giving soybeans
a try.
“It’s sort of an ongoing process, but
probably every year a few more in
SOYBEANHEALTHCLAIMCOULDBOOST
ALBERTAACRESDOWNTHEROAD
SOYCONSUMPTIONLINKEDTOREDUCEDCHOLESTEROL
Soybeans have been slow to catch on in Alberta, but newvarieties and demand could change that.
Photo:RonGietz,AlbertaAgricultureandForestry
