Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food. ...Hippocrates

Phytoestrogen

Phytoestrogen and Its Food Sources

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.

Phytoestrogen food sources Phytoestrogen content (µg/100g)
Flax seed
379380
Soy beans
103920
Tofu
27150.1
Soy yogurt
10275
Sesame seed
8008.1
Flax bread
7540
Multigrain bread
4798.7
Soy milk
2957.2
Hummus
993
Garlic
603.6
Mung bean sprouts
495.1
Dried apricots
444.5
Alfalfa sprouts
441.4
Dried dates
329.5
Sunflower seed
216
Chestnuts
210.2
Olive oil
180.7
Almonds
131.1
Green bean
105.8
Peanuts
34.5
Onion
32
Blueberry
17.5
Corn
9
Coffee, regular
6.3
Watermelon
2.9
Milk, cow
1.2

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