International team suggests fighting obesity with fermented soybean waste

Findings indicate fermented okara’s potential to suppress diet-induced obesity

An international team of scientists from NTU Singapore and Waseda University in Japan have found that fermented soybean waste, or okara, could improve fat metabolism and mitigate effects of diet-induced obesity.

Through laboratory experiments reported in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Metabolites in February, the scientists from NTU and Waseda showed that mice on a high fat diet supplemented with fermented okara gained less body mass and had lower levels of fat and cholesterol after three weeks as compared to mice on the same diet but not fed any fermented okara.

With 14 million tonnes of okara generated every year, and nearly a third of the world’s population overweight or obese, the scientists hope their findings can pave the way for fermented okara to be integrated into health foods one day, addressing the problems of food waste and obesity at the same time.

NTU-Waseda team is now reaching out to industry partners to translate this work into healthy snacks and exploring how it can be integrated into other food products.