Prevention is a key step to improve health through your life. Diet is an essential element in any program of disease prevention. As scientists tried to identify which foods and substances in foods may benefit health and prevent disease, therefore, an increasing amount of research is paying attention to soy protein.

Hundreds of studies illustrate soy's ability to protect against diseases such as osteoporosis, prostate enlargement, bladder cancer, hypertension, elevated homocysteine and several types of cancers.
Certainly the nutrient statistics regard soybeans as a healthy food. According to the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, 100 grams of soybeans supply 36.5 grams of protein, 277 mg of calcium, 15.7 grams of iron, 280 mg of magnesium, 704 mg of phosphorus, 1797 mg of potassium, 4.9 mg of zinc, as well as vitamins A, E, C, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and folic acid. Hence, Soybeans are one of the few plant sources of complete protein with all eight essential amino acids.
Fully soybean foods are a great source of protein and other nutrients, such as fiber, B vitamins, and fatty acids.
Essential amino acid composition in soybean protein (mg/g protein)

Nutrition Elements of Soybean Food:

	Valine	Isoleucine	Lysine	Leucine	Methionine + cystine	Phenylalanine+ tyrosine	Threonine	Tryptophan
Ideal Protein	50	40	55	70	35	60	40	10
Soybean protein	47	48	73	72	21	78	38	9

Tofu is rich in high-quality protein. Foods containing soy protein are healthy alternatives to meats and other animal products that contain cholesterol and saturated fat. It is also a good source of B-vitamins and iron. When the curding elements used to make tofu is calcium salt, the tofu is an excellent source of calcium. While 50 percent of the calories in tofu come from fat, a 4-ounce serving of tofu contains just 6 grams of fat. It is low in saturated fat and contains no cholesterol. Generally, the softer the tofu is, the lower the fat content will be. Tofu is also very low in sodium, thus making it a perfect food for people as sodium-restricted diets.

Tofu is Good for Preventing Following Diseases

Cancer
Common cancers are strongly associated with environmental factors including diet. For example, high fat intake is associated with increased risk of colon, breast and womb cancer22. Isoflavones and other compounds in soybeans may act as anti-carcinogens and therefore it has been suggested that the consumption of soybean foods may be associated with reduced rates of certain types of cancer.

Menopausal symptoms
Questions remain around the risk/ benefit ratio of traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and the possible increase in the risk of breast cancer. During menopause the oestrogen levels fall, resulting in hot flushes as the most common symptom. It has been found that Asian women, whose soy intake is high, possibilities that experience these symptoms are less often than Western women. This could be due to the phyto-oestrogen content of soy.

Bone Health
Osteoporosis is a condition of low bone density which may be due to the loss of calcium from bone tissue via the urine. Soy protein may help preserve the structure of bones as replacing animal protein with vegetable protein may reduce the level of urinary calcium excretion and therefore reduce the risk of the development of osteoporosis. Also, soy phyto-oestrogen may increase bone strength.

Diabetes
Soybeans may be useful in diabetes control. The complex carbohydrates found in soy are slowly digested and produce low glycogenic and insulin responses. This means that the glucose is released gradually into the blood, assisting in keeping the blood sugar level within normal range.

Infant Health
The nutrient composition of soy-based infant formulas (SBF) is similar to that of cow milk formulas and has been fed to babies with cow milk allergy for many years. There is no scientific evidence to suggest that SBF may be harmful to infants.