Researchers have come out with another boon of the black soya bean-preventing diabetes.

The scientists from Hanyang University in Seoul who published the results of their study in the Journal of Agricultural Food and Chemistry and the magazine Chemistry and Industry, have sounded that soya beans when included in a daily diet can help prevent sugar buildup.

This is as a result of soya hindering weight gain and lowering the levels of cholesterol.

The experiment was carried out on animal models. A batch of 32 rats were taken and divided into 4 groups. Keeping one as a control with zero amounts of soya beans fed to it, the other 3 groups received varying amounts of soya. They were then fed on a fat rich diet.

It was seen that those rats which received 10 percent of their energy from the black soya diet, not only gained only half as much weight as the control group, they also had lowered levels of bad cholesterol; a very significant 60 percent drop and a 25 percent drop in total blood cholesterol levels.

Says Lynne Garton of the Soya Protein Association:Soy fits in well to a healthy balanced diet which is important in preventing diabetes - low in fat, high in fibre and a good source of complex carbohydrates.

Yet Libby Dowling, care adviser at Diabetes UK says that though the results are interesting, more research is needed to determine the effects in humans.

Soya is also known to fight cancer and heart disease.

The World Health Organization and the International Diabetes Federation claim that 230 million people suffer from diabetes around the world.