segunda-feira, 3 de maio de 2010
Phytoestrogen and Its Food Sources
23:07 | 
Publicada por
Luis Guerreiro
| The major phytoestrogen groups are isoflavones, flavones, coumestans and lignans. The former three are flavonoids. Isoflavones are found in high concentration in soy bean and soy bean products (eg. tofu) where as lignans are mainly found in flax seed. Some studies indicate that phytoestrogens have health benefits including potential reduction in breast cancer, prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease risks, possible protection against osteoporosis (bone loss) and menopausal symptoms. Besides, both flavonoid and lignan phytoestrogens have antioxidant activity. Estrogen is available in medically formulated pills. However, dietary estrogen (phytoestrogen) can be also found in wide variety of food products (including herbs), even though the level varies depending on the source. Below is a short list of phytoestrogen food sources analyzed by researchers in Canada. The Canadian researchers analyzed 121 food samples, of which the food samples with the highest total phytoestrogen content are presented below. The food samples with the highest total phytoestrogen content were nuts and oil seeds followed by soy products. Total phytoestrogen content presented below is the sum of isoflavones (genistein, daidzein, glycitein, formononetin), lignans (secoisolariciresinol, matairesinol, pinoresinol, lariciresinol), and coumestan (coumestrol). Table 1. Foods high in phytoestrogen content.
Table 2. Total phytoestrogen and lignan content in vegetables, fruits, nuts and drinks.
Phytoestrogen data source: Thompson, L. U., Boucher, B. A., Lui, Z., Cotterchio, M., and Kreiger, N. 2006. Phytoestrogen content of foods consumed in Canada, including isoflavones, lignans and coumestan. Nutrition and Cancer, 54(2), 184-201. Additional references: Cassidy A. Potential risks and benefits of phytoestrogen-rich diets.Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2003 Mar;73(2):120-6. Ganry O. Phytoestrogens and prostate cancer risk. Prev Med. 2005 Jul;41(1):1-6. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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