Soya bean can help fight dreaded HIV, claims research
SOYA BEAN is packed with powerful punch. It not only has the power to absorb the heavy metals from the mother earth but also has the potential as a bio-fuel besides possessing the quality to fight the dreaded HIV.
Realising the potential Naithani Plant Genetics Laboratory of Botany Department, Allahabad University (AU), has approached the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CISR), New Delhi, to fund its project to carry out further researches on soya bean.
“Soya bean, scientifically called as Glycine max, is a food legume with 18-23 per cent oil content and 38-44 per cent protein content.
It has been found as the richest source of protein after meat and egg. Soya bean can also absorb a considerable amount of heavy metals like cadmium and lead from contaminated soil, acting as Phytoremediator. It has the ability to absorb the deadly poisonous TNT (Tri Nitro Toluene) which is an explosive, present in higher amounts in the soils around factories involved in the production of explosives”, said Dr Girijesh Kumar of Botany Department, AU.
“It was interesting to note that there was no effect in the seed oil content of the plants grown in the contaminated area. For this unique property soya bean can be used for reclaiming soils damaged by industrial wastes. Oil from these plants can be used as bio-diesel by a process called transesterification. Hence, it can be an alternative to petroleum-based fuels, which are dwindling at an alarming rate,” added Dr Kumar.
Dr Kumar said that continuous efforts were being made to raise better mutant genes through mutation breeding. A successful experimentation has been done to study the accumulation of heavy metals in different parts of plants without any damage to the quality of protein and oil content. By using mutation as tool, efforts are on to increase the oil content which could be used as an alternative for petroleum-based fuels. Tetraloids have successfully been raised which doubled the size of the seed.
Since, soya bean is the cheapest source of vegetable protein and its contains many beneficial compounds like lecithin’s, phyto-sterols, fibros, saponins etc which help in cancer prevention, cholesterol reduction and prevention of cardio-vascular diseases, in combating osteoporosis and it is also good for diabetes, therefore it has been selected by us for considerable improvement through mutation breeding. Very few people know that it contains a compound called ‘Saponin B1′ which has anti-HIV properties.
Dr Kumar said that despite so many important features the soya bean farming and its use has not gained popularity owing to its taste. The factor behind it is the presence of linolenic acid in the soya bean.
The experiments are underway to decrease the lenolenic acid level in soya bean for making it more popular. The reduction in linolenic acid content of soya bean by mutation through gamma-rays has given positive results. The modified soya bean was much tasty and the durability of the food cooked by soya bean oil has also been found to have increased. The modified soya bean would also simplify the oil extraction process thus reducing the cost of its oil.
Dr Kumar informed that along with research scholar Priyanka Rai, they have already begun work on the project and set to go full steam once the green signal is received from the CSIR.
