Juan M. Baertl

Nutritional effectiveness of soy cereal foods in undernourished infants

These studies show that a variety of cereal-soy foods can be the major or only source of protein in the diet of growing infants and children. These included various combinations of cornmeal and soy flour, with and without added dry skim milk or methionine; a wheat flour-wheat concentrate mixture or whole wheat flour with soy flour; oat and soy flours; and a corn-wheat-soy flour macaroni. Apparent absorption of nitrogen from each of these mixtures was similar, averaging 76.3±0.6 (SEM) % of intake, but was inferior to that from casein in the same children, which averaged 86.8±0.4% of intake. Apparent retentions of nitrogen averaged 26.6±0.8 and 33.8±1.0% of intake respectively, with all but one of the soy-cereal combinations being similar. This one had a mean retention equal to that from casein, possibly as the result of “instantizing” of the cornmeal which probably resulted in increased availability of dietary energy. For all the mixtures, nitrogen retention was influenced by the efficiency of nitrogen absorption, suggesting that processing methods can improve the nutritional quality of these foods.