The soybean plant is an annual, bristly-haired oil plant that grows up to 80 cm, sometimes 180 cm tall and resembles bush beans. The flowers are purple or white, usually self-fertilizing, the fruits are short, brownish-yellow pods with 2 to 3 roundish-oval white, yellow or brown seeds. These soybean seeds, see soybean, contain a fatty oil.
The high content of protein, soy lecithin (see also lecithin) and oils is significant. The oil (soybean oil) is usually extracted first, the residual mass (soybean meal or soybean cake) is used as animal feed, but is also used as a meat substitute and milk substitute (cow's milk allergy) in the form of soy milk. Soy products are contained in many foods. The fresh, green pods ("pods") or various protein products (tofu and soy sauce) are used for direct human nutrition.
The soybean, the refined, fatty oil(Soiae oleum raffinatum) pressed from the soybean seeds, and the resulting soy lecithin(soy lecithin - Lecithinum ex soja) are used phytotherapeutically.