History of Soy Nutrtional Research (200 BCE to 1945)
William Shurtleff, Akiko AoyagiISBN: 978-1-948436-31-1
Publication Date: 2021 Jan. 26
Number of References in Bibliography: 3343
Earliest Reference: 200 BCE
Click here to download the full text to open and read book 
Brief Chronology/Timeline of History of Soy Nutritional Research
For most of the period covered by this work, researchers worked to understand the basic chemical composition of the soybean.
Once they realized that it was unique in containing an abundance of protein and oil, they tried to understand why livestock and poultry grew so fast when relatively small amounts (10-30%) were added to their diets. This proved to be a very difficult question to answer.
200 BCE (approx.) – The earliest document seen worldwide concerning the medical or therapeutic value of the soybean is the Huangdi Neijing Suwen [Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine: Questions and Answers].
At least fifteen other documents in the Materia Medica corpus, created before 1000 CE make a similar basic claim. Note, however, that nutrition was not a science in China until the 20th century.
100 BCE (approx.) – Soyfoods (soy sprouts {dadou huangjuan}) are good for kidney ailments, says the Huangdi Neijing Lingshu [Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine: The Vital Axis].
The science of nutrition is based on the science of chemistry, which was established in Europe (mainly in England, France, and Germany during the 1700s). For example:
1772 – Nitrogen is discovered and isolated by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford. Yet the word nitrogen was not coined until 1790.
1775 – English chemist and clergyman Joseph Priestley identifies 7 individual gases, including oxygen and hydrogen. Yet the word oxygen was not coined until 1790 and hydrogen until 1791.
1767 May – Samuel Bowen first discusses the antiscorbutic properties of sprouted soybeans. He was the first to mention (in connection with soybeans) what was later called a vitamin – vitamin C, that prevents and cures scurvy (Gentleman’s Magazine, p. 253).
1838 – Proteins are first described by the Dutch chemist Gerardus Johannes Mulder and named by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius.
Justus von Liebig (1808-1873) and his pupils later later overthrew many of Mulder’s ideas about protein.
1844 – The term “protein-rich” is first used by Archbald Ridgway in connection with soybean to refer to inedible, round “bean cakes.” (New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, p. 369).
1845 June 4 – The earliest article to contain the chemical composition of a soyfood (a “vegetable cheese”) or a soybean gives the composition of 100 parts of this “cheese” as:
Carbon, 54.138
Hydrogen 7.156
Nitrogen 15.672
Oxygen, &c. 23.034
The word “albumen” and the terms “vegetable albumen” and “vegetable casein” are first used to describe the protein of the soybean or any soy product (bean cheese) [tofu] in this article: New England Farmer (Boston, Massachusetts), p. 389. The source of this article is The Maine Farmer.
The article continues: Liebig, the famous German chemist, says: “The third constituent of the vegetable food of animals is vegetable caseine. It is chiefly found in the seeds of peas, beans, lentils, and similar leguminous seeds. Like vegetable albumen, it is soluble in water, but differs from it in this, that its solution is not coagulated by heat.”
1855 July 1 – For the first time, we learn the fat/oil content of soybeans – 17% says the earliest known document to give a figure – a remarkable French-language letter to the editor by E. Fremy in the Bulletin de la Societe d'Acclimatation. The soybeans are called Pois oléagineux (“oil peas”).
This society, which obtains soybeans from the French consul in China, is a pioneer in sending soybeans to its members, asking them to conduct trials, and publishing the results in its Bulletin. Messr. Paillieux gradually emerges as the leader of the group interested in and promoting soybeans and soyfoods.
1858 April 26 – The best nutritional composition of the soybean seen to date (and the best in English) states: “The soja hispida, called bhoot by the natives, I find to contain the enormous quantity of 46 lb. per 100 of nitrogenous matter, nearly 12½ lb. of oil or fat, about 13 ounces of phosphorus, 1¼ ounce of sulphur, and equivalent to nearly half an ounce of iron.” This is also the earliest document seen that uses the word “nitrogenous” or the word “iron” in connection with soybeans (Morning Post {London}. “The productive resources of India,” p. 3).
1859 Jan. 8 – The word “nitrogenous ” and the term “nitrogenous matter” are first used in connection with soybeans. “In the East Indies there are a number of cereals and pulses which are exceedingly nutritious, and deserving of introduction; one of these called Boot (the soja hispida), contains 46 pounds of nitrogenous matter in every hundred cwt;” (“New Agricultural Products.” Scientific American. p. 141).
1861 Jan. – The words “proteine” and “albuminous” and the terms “albuminous compounds” and “proteine compounds” are first in analyzing the chemical composition of soybeans and Chinese bean cake. The Chinese cake contains a large “quantity of albuminous or proteine compounds,…” The composition of the seeds is: Water 10.55%. Oil 20.28%. Albuminous compounds 38.60%. Starch, gum, &c. 18.72%. Fibre 5.11%. Ash 6.74%.” (Thomas Anderson. Transactions of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, p. 506-08).
This is also the earliest document seen that mentions the fiber or the oil or the starch content of soybeans.
1862 – The word for “protein” (tanpakushitsu) is first used in Japanese in the book Shichi shin-yaku [Seven new medicines] – but with no connection to the soybean.
1869 – A detailed nutritional composition of tofu in China and Japan is given by Paul Champion and M. Lhôte in Fabrication du fromage de pois en Chine et au Japon [Production of tofu in China and Japan].
1872 May – Stoeckhardt and Senff in Germany are the first to mention (clearly) the starch in soybeans and to say that they have none. They are also the first to mention the term “nitrogen-free extract,” which appears 183 in our database and which includes starch, sugar, gums, and the like. It does not include crude fiber or dietary fiber. The nitrogen-free extract and fiber soon came to be classed together under the name of carbohydrates (Chemische Ackersmann).
1872 – The word carbohydrate (Kohlenhydrate) is first mentioned in connection with soybeans (actually with miso) by the German writer Syrski, PhD.
1876-78 – Prof. Friedrich Haberlandt of Vienna is, along with Messr. Paillieux of France, one of the first two Westerners to realize the potential importance of the soybean as a crop for Europe, based on its remarkably high content of protein and oil. Working closely with a large group of farmers and agronomists throughout Central Europe, he sends each several varieties of soybeans with instructions for growing and asks them send him the results of their trials. It is quickly found that only early-maturing varieties yield a crop of seeds. Moreover, as the crop acclimatizes to this new environment, it yields better each year. Prof. Haberlandt publishes all the results he receives in journal articles, and in 1878 he compiles the world’s first book focusing only on the soybean – Die Sojabohne (The Soybean), published in Vienna (119+ pages).
1879 – The words “albuminoids” and “legumin” and “chemical composition” are first used in connection with soybeans by Edward Kinch who is working in Tokyo but writing in English. The first means “protein.” The 2nd is a type of protein. A table shows the percentage composition of White round soy bean or Miso mame: “Water 11.32, albuminoids 37.75, fat 20.89, fibre 1.50, ash 3.86, starch and soluble cellulose 24.58. Total 100.00”
When making tofu, “the liquid, containing legumin in solution, is precipitated by the addition of the brine which runs off from sea salt during its deliquescence in the air.” (Japan: A Classified and Descriptive Catalogue of a Collection of Agricultural Products Exhibited in the Sydney International Exhibition… p. 22-26; also Cook, G.H. 1879. “The soja bean; a new forage plant,” p. 54-58).
1880 May 17 – H. Pellet, a chemist from France, conducts nutritional / chemical analyses on 3 samples of Chinese oil peas (pois oléagineux chinois), made available to him by Mr. Paillieux. The first came from China, the second from Hungary, and the third from Etampes. France (Comptes Rendus, p. 1177-80).
This document contains the most detailed nutritional/chemical analyses of soybeans seen to date, and the earliest nutritional analysis of soybeans that mentions minerals (iron and trace minerals), and earliest known use of this French name for soybeans.
1880 Sept. – The word “calcium” is first used in connection with soy or tofu by Auguste Paillieux, writing in French in Bulletin de la Societe d'Acclimatation (p. 575).
1881 Dec. 1 – The word “protein” is first used to described that macronutrient in soybeans – but it take many years to become the standard word (Tropical Agriculturist, p. 567).
1883 – The term “nutritive ratio” is first used by Charles W. Dabney, Jr. in North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, Annual Report (p. 116-27). We later learn that this is the ratio of digestible protein to other nutrients in a foodstuff or ration. This term appears 48 times in the SoyaScan database from 1883 to 1959.
1883 April 19 – In the German-language article Ueber die Bestandtheile der Bohnen von Soja hispida [On the constituents of the soybean], E. Meissl and F. Böcker of Austria discuss (for the first time) the properties and composition of soya casein (Sojacaseïn) and soya albumen (Albumin der Soja). They call attention to the characteristics that soya casein has in common with animal casein.
1883 – The word “albumenoid” is first used in connection with soybeans. Soja bean plant in fresh state:… “The seed, dried at 212°F, was found to contain 5.20 per cent. of ash, 40.37 per cent. of albumenoid substance, and 15.96 per cent of fat (ether extract).” (Sturtevant. “Report of the Director.” New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Annual Report, p. 24 ).
1884 – The word “proteid” is first used to mean “protein” in connection with soybeans. “The Soja bean, imported from Japan, like all leguminous fruits, contains a large amount of proteids, and is moreover very rich in fatty constituents” (Year Book of Pharmacy {London}, p. 228-29).
1885 Nov. – The earliest known nutritional experiments using soy with human subjects are conducted in the hygiene laboratory of Prof. A.P. Dobroslavin in St. Petersburg, Russia. Using foods prepared out of soybeans with butter and salt mixed in, they determined the absorption of the main components of the soybean in the gut of a healthy person. First they analyzed the nutritional composition of soybeans and found that they were a rich source of protein (38.4%), fats (18.7%) and ash (5.1%). The experiment lasted 48 hours and there were two subjects. These figures clearly show that absorption of nitrogenous and fatty substances in soybean is similar to that of peas, white bread and many other plant-based foods (p. 338) (Lipskiy. 1885. Trudy Imperatorskago Vol'nago Ekonomicheskago… Nov. p. 335-39. In Russian).
1886 Jan. – The use of soy in diabetic diets is first suggested by Auguste Paillieux in France. He states that he had an analysis of the soybean made and that it does not contain even a trace of starch, which was considered the bane of diabetics. He even applied for a patent on its use as a food for diabetics, but he had to drop the patent on a technicality (Bulletin de la Societe d'Acclimatation (p. 173, 187-88).
1886 May – An enzyme – specifically a diastatic enzyme (ein diastatisches Ferment) – and pectin (a carbohydrate) are first mentioned in connection with soybeans by Stingl and Morawski, writing in German (Monatshefte für Chemie, p. 176-90).
1888 Nov. 30 – M. Egasse in France first refers to the actual use of soy flour in diabetic diets. He says: The applications of soybean seeds for the feeding of diabetics is not numerous. Yet we know, via an oral communication from Mr. Lailleux, former intern at the hospital in Algiers, that a certain number of diabetic Arabs under treatment at the hospital of Dey, in Algiers, have seen, under the influence of a dietary regimen based on soybean pap, that not only did the content of sugar in their urine diminish by a considerable proportion, but also the condition of their sores was improved, a condition which like all of its type had resisted other treatments employed. If this fact can be verified again, either with soy pap or soy bread (le pain de soja), the therapy would have found in soybeans an aid of great utility in the ordinary treatment of diabetes mellitus, which is so difficult for most patients to stand, especially because they must abstain from starches for which they generally show such a strong appetite (Bulletin General de Therapeutique Medicale, Chirurgicale…, p. 447).
It was as a food for diabetics that the soybean first got a foothold in the United States.
1888 May – The Japanese word for “protein” (tanpakushitsu) is first used in connection with soybeans in an article titled Shibô no eiyôtaki kôyô (Digestion experiments with rice and tofu) published in the Tokyo Igakkai Zasshi (J. of the Tokyo Medical Society).
1888 July – The term “crude protein” is first used in connection with soybeans. “The specimen of soy beans examined by us contains the following proportions of digestible nutrients, percent of the dry matter: Crude protein 34.30, fat 18.25, fiber 9.09; nitrogen-free extract 19.65;…” (Kellner, O.J. Bulletin of the College of Agriculture, Tokyo Imperial University, p. 39-45).
1888 – The oligosaccharide raffinose, a complex sugar, is first mentioned in connection with soybeans by Bernhard Tollens in Kurzes Handbuch der Kohlenhydrate [Short Handbook of Carbohydrates] (p. 102, 156).
1891 April – In an article titled Soybeans and bread for diabetics. A. Menudier, a physician, says that what renders the soybean invaluable is the successful use that can be made of its seed in the nourishment of people suffering from diabetes mellitus (Bulletin de la Societe d’Acclimatation, p. 546-51).
1892 March – The terms “vegetable protein” and “animal protein” are first used in connection with soybeans (Speth, G. 1892. Georgia Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 17. p. 196-98).
1897 April – Amino acids are first mentioned in connection with soy by Oscar Löw in a German-language article titled Ueber die Bereitung der Shoyu-Sauce [On the preparation of soy sauce]. He states that shoyu contains: Amino acids (Amidosäuren) 0.5 to 1.21%.
1898 – “Proteids of the soy bean (Glycine hispida),” by Thomas Burr Osborne and George F. Campbell is published in the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Annual Report. For the year 1897, p. 374-82). This is the most important publication on this subject to date, worldwide.
The words “globulin,” “globulins,” “glycinin,” “albumin” and “proteose” are first used in connection with soybeans in this article, which states: “We propose for this globulin the name Glycinin.”
“Besides these globulins about 1.5 per cent. of the albumin-like proteid legumelin was obtained.”
“Owing to the small amount of proteose no evidence was obtained as to the purity or individuality of this preparation.”
1904 – The term “linolic acids” (or acid) is first used in connection with the soya bean by Julius Lewkowitsch, PhD, in the 3rd edition of his classic Chemical Technology and Analysis of Oils, Fats, and Waxes. This term was later (circa 1922-24) renamed linoleic acid.
1905 May – The effect of dietary lipids (oils and fats) on blood lipids is first discussed (in Russian) in connection with soy by Korentschewski and Zimmerman. During the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) the authors conducted investigations on soy oil in the chemical-bacteriological laboratory of the Russian military hospital in Harbin. They carried out human feeding trials on all aspects of soy oil. The total fat of the diet was on average 97% digested.
1907 April 20 – Phytosterol is first reported in soybeans by Klobb and Bloch (in French).
1907 July – Cystine and lysine, essential amino acids, are first mentioned in connection with soy by Suzuki, Aso and Mitarai in Tokyo, Japan. Their German-language article also contains an early analysis of the chemical composition of Japanese soy sauce or shoyu. Bulletin of the College of Agriculture, Tokyo Imperial University. p. 477-94).
1907 Sept. – The names of individual amino acids are first mentioned in connection with the soybean in an article by Thomas B. Osborne and S.H. Clapp titled “Hydrolysis of glycinin from the soy bean,” published in the American J. of Physiology. A table shows: "The results of this hydrolysis calculated to a moisture and ash free basis were the following:
Glycocoll 0.97%.
Alanine – not isolated.
Valine 0.68%.
Leucine 8.45%.
Proline 3.78%.
Phenylalanine 3.86%.
Aspartic acid 3.89%.
Glutaminic acid 19.46%.
Serine – not isolated.
Tyrosine 1.86%.
Arginine 5.12%.
Histidine 1.39%.
Lysine 2.71%.
Ammonia 2.56%.
Tryptophane – present.
Total 54.73%."
Tryptophane and lysine are mentioned for the first time in connection with the soy bean.
1908 Dec. – The term “amino-acids” is first used in connection with soybeans in English by Osborne, Leavenworth and Brautlecht in Connecticut.
1909 – The Vegetable Proteins, by Thomas B. Osborne, is the first book on this subject. Published in New York by Longmans, Green and Co. (xiii, 125 pp.), it contains a remarkable 608 references.
Although soy is not listed in the index, it appears on pages 15, 49, 74, and 78. The soybean is not yet an important plant in the USA.
The term “plant proteins” is first used in connection with soybeans. “In 1836 Boussingault published elementary analyses of several plant proteins, which marked a new epoch in the development of their study, for these analyses were soon followed by those made in 1839 by Mulder and by those made by Liebig and his pupils in 1841 and the years immediately following… Liebig asserted in 1841 that the different forms of plant proteins known at the time were identical with the proteins of animal origin which bore similar names. He recognized four such substances, namely vegetable albumin, plant gelatin, legumin or casein, and plant fibrin.”
1909 June 16 – The enzyme urease is found in soybeans by T. Takeuchi (J. of the College of Agriculture, Tokyo Imperial University. p. 1-14). Urease can hydrolyze urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide.
1909 – Dr. John Ruräh, an American pediatrician first reports on the use of a soybean preparation as a substitute for cow’s milk in infant feeding. He wrote:
“As regards the use of the beans in infant feeding it seemed to me that soy bean gruel or milk, either alone or with cow's milk, might be of value in feeding several classes of cases, viz., of marasmus and malnutrition, as a substitute for milk in diarrhea, and in intestinal and stomach disorders, and in diabetes mellitus” (Archives of Pediatrics, July, p. 496-501).
Note: Ruhräh never mentioned allergic reactions to cow’s milk.
1911 Jan. – The terms “soy bean protein,” “nitrogen balance” and “nitrogen balance experiments” are first used in connection with soybeans (Mendel and Fine, “Studies in nutrition IV. The utilization of the proteins of the legumes.” Journal of Biological Chemistry, p. 439).
1911 – Nitrogen balance, as part of an experiment to measure protein quality, is first mentioned by Mendel and Fine at Yale Univ.
1911 – Linolenic acid in soybean oil is first mentioned by Matthes & Dahle (in German) (Archiv der Pharmazie, Berlin, p. 424-35).
1912 July – The British term “soya bean protein” is first used in connection with soybeans (Crossley-Holland, Year-Book of Pharmacy {London}, p. 489-95).
1912 – The oligosaccharide stachyose is first isolated from soybeans by Georges Tanret. Stachyose is a crystallized sugar that Schulze and von Planta discovered in 1890 in another plant.
1912 – Tryptophan, an essential amino acid, is first mentioned in connection with soy by E. Winterstein (in German).
1914 – The important distinction between base-forming or alkaline foods and acid-forming or acidic basic foods is discussed by Henry Clapp Sherman, professor of food chemistry at Columbia University, in his textbook Food Products. “In the writer's opinion it is distinctly preferable that the balance fall on the basic side. Fruits and vegetables (and soy) are basic. Meat and eggs are acidic.
To this day (2021) in Japan, soyfoods are widely promoted for their “alkaline” nature.
1915 – The “law of minimum” is also first proposed by Osborne and Mendel at Yale in this article. It says the quality of a protein is limited by the essential amino acid which is in shortest supply in relation to the needs of a particular organism.
The ideas in this paper (J. of Biological Chemistry, p. 351-78) soon become the basis for the idea of protein complementarity and combining proteins to increase the quality of each one.
1917 Feb. – The term “essential amino acids” is first used in connection soybeans with by Osborne and Mendel at Yale who state: “The principle that the quality of the protein should be considered in order to make sure that the ration is not deficient in any of the essential amino-acids is beginning to find expression in the most recent books on the feeding of farm animals...” (J. of Biological Chemistry, p. 69-92).
The classical work of Osborne and associates on soybean proteins and their nutritive value stimulated an increasing amount of investigation on the nutritional properties of soybean proteins which were increasingly found to be high in both quality and quantity, and low in price. This became their hallmark.
1917 May – The word “vitamine” first appears in connection with soybeans in an article titled “The possible maximum vitamine content of some Philippine vegetables,” published in the Philippine J. of Science (p. 127-32).
By 1919 most periodicals had dropped the terminal “e,” writing “vitamin” instead.
1917 Oct. – “The use of soy bean as food,” by Osborne & Mendel (J. of Biological Chemistry, p. 369-87) is one of the most famous early studies on the nutritional value of soybeans. Cooking soybeans with moist heat (although this term is not used) dramatically increases their nutritional value when fed to white rats. But why does cooking improve their nutritional value?
1918 Feb. – The term “complete protein” is first used in connection with soybeans by John Harvey Kellogg, M.D. “Another point in favor of the soy bean is the fact that the protein which it contains is a complete protein. That is, it is capable of fully supplying the place of lean meat, milk or eggs.” (Good Health, p. 111).
This claim is repeated by various authoritative authors (such as Henry C. Sherman, March 1918) over the following months and decades. But gradually these “yes or no” terms disappeared as more precise and gradated measures of protein quality took their place.
1920 Jan. – The modern term “soybean protein” is first used by Philips et al. in the USA in the Journal of Agricultural Research (p. 391-98).
1921 – In The New Dietetics, an important, science-based book, John Harvey Kellogg, M.D. contends that diet is the root cause of most heart disease. After discussing various soyfoods, he writes (p. 738-39): The “great frequency with which arteriosclerosis is encountered in modern times is the result of the increase in flesh eating which in recent years has been very marked in all civilized countries.” It “has become the universal custom among practical physicians to exclude meats, meat extracts, and broths of all sorts from the diet of patients suffering from arteriosclerosis, as the most efficient means of checking the degeneration of the arteries...”
1923 March – Tryptophan, an essential amino acid, is first mentioned in English in connection with soy by T.S. Hamilton et al. (J. of the American Chemical Society, p. 815-19)
1923 – The term “soy-casein” is first used in the section titled “Vegetable casein.” (Piper & Morse. The Soybean. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 233-34).
1923 – The first report of agglutinating activity in soybeans. (Biochemische Zeitschrift. 140:113-31).
By 1929 these protein substances were called hemagglutinins, by 1953 those in soybeans were called soyin, and by 1966 they were called lectins; they cause red blood cells to agglutinate.
1924 Nov. – The term “biological value (BV),” the earliest measure of protein quality, is first mentioned in connection with soybeans and the process described by H.H. Mitchell (J. of Biological Chemistry, p. 873-903). However the term was introduced by Thomas in 1909.
1924 – The second edition of Thomas B. Osborne’s The Vegetable Proteins is published. The first edition was published in 1909, by the same publisher. The number of pages has increased by 21% (to 167) and the number of references by 35% (to 820). The principal globulin found in the seeds of the soy bean is glycinin. Legumelin is also found in soy-bean seeds.
1925 June – The Journal of the American Dietetic Association, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, begins publication, thus elevating the study of nutrition and dietetics.
1925 Nov. – Lecithin, extracted from soybeans, is found to be an antioxidant (Bollmann, H. British Patent #260108).
1928 Sept. – The Journal of Nutrition, a peer-reviewed scientific journal begins publication by the American Society for Nutrition. Its first article about soy is published in the issue of July 1932, “The utilization of calcium in soy bean diets” by Adolph and Chen.
1929 – The first soy-based infant formulas are developed in the USA. Allergy to cow's milk and lactose intolerance stimulated the development of these non-dairy formulas. Most of these were made from soy flour and contained the fiber in the soymilk.
In 1929 Mead Johnson Co. produced the first soy-based infant formula in America. Called Sobee, it was made from a mixture of full-fat soy and barley flours homogenized with olive oil, had a dark tan color and beany flavor, and contained many complex carbohydrates that led to intestinal gas (flatus) and poor-smelling stools, but in 1929 it was a godsend to infants allergic to cow's milk (Sarett 1976). In 1934 Mull-Soy, the second such product was developed by Dr. Julius F. Muller, director of allergy research for the Borden Company; his own child was highly allergic to dairy milk.
1929 – Cystine, an essential amino acid, is first mentioned in English in connection with soy by Mitchell and Hamilton.
1930 Sept. – The phrase “changing the intestinal flora” is first introduced in connection with soy by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. The idea, introduced by Metchnikoff in 1903, has steadily become more popular. Today we call it the human microbiome, and many consider it an important determinant of good health.
1931 Sept. 12 – The earliest document seen concerning phytoestrogens or isoflavones in soybeans is by Erwin Walz in German, published in Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie. It is also the earliest that mentions daidzin or daidzein, genistin or genistein (pronounced JEN-uh-steen), or aglycone, in connection with soy, or that describes the isolation of genistin or genistein from soybeans. And it is the earliest document seen that gives information on the concentration of genistin or genistein in soybeans.
1932 Feb. – The term “sulfur-containing amino acids” is first used in connection with soybeans by H.H. Mitchell and Smuts (J. of Biological Chemistry, p. 263-81).
1932 Sept. – The word “methionine” is first used in connection with soybeans by Baernstein. However methionine was discovered in 1921 by Mueller (J. of Biological Chemistry, p. 663-68).
1932 – The term ‘trace element” is coined. It is “A chemical element present in minute quantities, esp. one used by organisms and held essential to their physiology. The term is first used in connection with soybeans in Aug. 1940 by R.T. Milner (Proceedings of the American Soybean Association, p. 36-38).
1933 April – The modern term “soy protein” is first used in the Staley Journal (Decatur, Illinois), p. 3-5.
1933 July – The first evidence that soybeans may be goitrogenic in rats is published by Robert McCarrison in “The goitrogenic action of soya-bean and ground-nut,” in the Indian J. of Medical Research (p. 179-81).
1934 March – The term “sulphur-containing amino acid” (note spelling) is first mentioned by Tomiyama and Hanada in Japan in connection with soybeans (J. of Biochemistry, Tokyo, p. 345-51).
In Sept. 1935 Tomiyama was the first to use the term “sulfur-containing amino acids.”
1934 March – The earliest known report of an allergic response to soybeans is reported (J. of Allergy, p. 300-02).
1934 – The term “protein quality” is first used in connection with soybeans by D. Breese Jones and F.A. Csonka (Yearbook of Agriculture {USDA}, p. 330-32. For the year 1934).
1935 Jan. – Horvath states that enzymes in soybeans can destroy vitamins A and D in those same soybeans. So it is important to inactivate those enzymes (Food Industries. p. 15-16).
1935 Sept. – The terms “indispensable amino acids” and “sulfur containing amino acids” (note spelling) are first used in connection with protein quality in soybeans, by T. Tomiyama in Tokyo. He was the first to realize “that it is necessary to take the sum of these two sulfur containing amino acids [methionine + cystine] as a criterion for the comparison of nutritional value of proteins” (J. of Biochemistry, Tokyo, p. 341-42).
1938 Jan. – The first article to give an indication of a protease inhibitor or a trypsin inhibitor in plants and the first to give an indication that this inhibitor was or resembled a protein is published by Read and Haas in Cereal Chemistry (p. 59-68).
1942 Jan 26 – The term “protein gap” is first used to refer to the amount of protein people (or a person) need minus the amount they are consuming.
1943 June 14 – World War II is now under way and Americans are being urged by the government and various other groups to consume less meat, milk, dairy products and eggs and to use new protein sources – such as soy beans. One leader was New York’s Governor Thomas E. Dewey. An article in the New York Times (June 15, p. 24) begins: “Albany, June 14 – A war-diet luncheon, dominated by the humble soy bean was served to sixty-seven guests in the State dining room of the Executive Mansion today in an effort to convince New York's housewives that palatable and nutritious substitutes for the dwindling meat supply are available.
“The luncheon, which included soy beans in seven different forms, was served to Governor and Mrs. Dewey, members of the State Emergency Food Commission and representatives of newspapers, magazines and the radio…” The story, titled “Soybeans,” was also published in Life magazine (July 19, p. 45, 47-48).
1943 Oct. Patricia Woodward of the Committee on Food Habits, National Research Council states: “There is virtually no foodstuff in this country which is used in the great variety of ways in which it is possible to use soybeans and their products” (In: “Attitudes toward the use of soybeans as food,” 11 p.)
1944 Oct. – Donald Bowman discovers “Fractions derived from soy beans and navy beans which retard tryptic digestion of casein. He describes the discovery of what would soon be called “soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI) (Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology, p. 139-40).
1945 June 29 – M. Kunitz, writing in the prestigious journal Science, first mentions the term “trypsin inhibitor” in connection with soybeans (p. 668-69).