Liquid Lecithin

Different kinds of beans

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Liquid lecithin is a naturally occurring compound found in every cell of every living organism, whether of animal or plant in origin. In fact, while the liquid lecithin sold in the commercial industry is a mixture of neutral and polar lipids (glycolipids, sterols, triglyderides and small quantities of fatty acids, carbohydrates, and sphingolipids), lecithin in biochemistry is often used as a synonym for phosphatidylcholine (PC), which is itself a mixture of differently substituted sn-glycerol-3-phosphatidylcholine backbones. Read more . . .

Soy Lecithin Allergens

Soybean and fresh egg in a bowl

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Lecithin was first discovered in 1850 when Maurice Gobley, a French scientist, worked in his lab and eventually succeeded in separating the emulsifier-like fatty compound found in egg yolk. Naming the compound after the Greek word for “egg yolk”, lekithos, the first commercially available lecithin was mostly obtained from egg yolk, until the 1930s when the use of soy products in processed foods arose.

The compound lecithin was initially discovered in the by-product of soybean processing. After the soybeans were processed and its oils extracted, the liquid waste that is left is made to undergo a “degumming” process. This was done in order to separate its lecithin content. Since then, most of the lecithin sold in the market today are taken from soya. Read more . . .

Lecithin Supplements

Brown chocolate

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Lecithin has two definitions, but that depends on whom you asked. First, it refers to commercial lecithin, such as lecithin supplements, that come either from egg yolk or soybeans. Second, lecithin is a term used synonymously with phosphatidyl choline (PC), a phospholipid that is found in the cells of all living organisms, animals and plant alike.

As a phospholipid, lecithin or phosphatidyl choline is composed of one of the 10 main types of lipids in cell Read more . . .

Lecithin Supplement

In recent years, lecithin has received much attention on its being a possible treatment for a variety of illnesses, including heart problems, high cholesterol, Alzheimer’s disease, and memory loss. Not only that, but manufacturers of lecithin supplements are also marketing the compound to help lose weight. However, is there some basis to all this?

Fried tofu with grated carrots

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Let us first examine what the compound lecithin is. Generally speaking, lecithin refers to a complex mixture of Read more . . .

Soy Lecithin

Green field

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Where and how did lecithin get its name? Was it named after some brilliant scientists who discovered it while working night and day in a laboratory? In fact, the real story is a little blander than that. Lecithin actually comes from the word “lekithos”, which is the Greek word for “egg yolk.”

But why would anyone name it after something so common as an egg yolk? The reason is because that is where the French scientist Maurice Gobley first found lecithin. In 1805, some scientists had just extracted a fat-like Read more . . .