A New Role for the Old Bean

Vegetarians, especially those who don’t love spinach, have a tough time getting enough iron. Once you drop red meat from your diet, there just aren’t many other foods that contain enough of the essential mineral. Luckily, a new study suggests that soybeans, a vegetarian staple, might well do the trick. While it’s long been known that soybeans contain iron, previous studies have suggested it wasn’t easily absorbed by the body. The new findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, give reason to believe that’s not true. Eighteen women ate soy-laced foods for 28 days and had their iron levels measured halfway through and again at 28 days. The iron was chemically “tagged” so it could be traced in red blood cells. In the end, the average rate of absorption was 27 percent—much higher than the 5 or 10 percent achieved in previous studies. The reason? The subjects of the earlier studies were all men who had plenty of iron stored up, says Elizabeth Theil, a biochemistry professor at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute and lead author of the study. “These women were iron-deficient, which may have made the difference.” “If you’re a vegetarian, soybeans are the place to be,” Theil adds. They’re versatile—they can fill just about any role in a meal— and they contain more available iron than most vegetables.