Of approximately fifty known essential nutrients, essential fatty acids (EFAs) have the highest daily requirements. Medical researcher and author of Essential Fatty Acids in Health And Disease (Nutrek Press, 1994), Edward Siguel, M.D., Ph.D., has analyzed the blood of over 1,000 sick and healthy people and found that about twenty-five percent of his samples showed deficiencies or imbalances in EFAs.

Unlike other fats, the EFAs linolenic acid and linoleic acid are precursors to hormone-like substances that regulate vital physiological processes, such as blood pressure, immunity, inflammation, cholesterol level, cell growth, neural impulses, reproduction, and even affect emotions. Whether you feel sexy, loving, angry, or deeply depressed can be influenced by the balance of EFAs in your blood.

Dry soybeans, which are about twenty percent oil, are an excellent source of high quality polyunsaturated fats such as EFAs, however, most of the soy oil sold in the United States is made by a process that destroys most of the delicate EFAs. The daily use of soybean miso, which is made with only soybeans, koji, and water, is a flavorful way to get EFAs. In fact, misos such as Hatcho and "mame" are about ten percent oil, and over sixty percent of this is linolenic (7.5%) and linoleic (55.9%) acid.