Medicinal Plants and Their Constituents with Estrogenic Activity

• Published in: Revista brasileira de farmacognosia 2024-12, Vol.34 (6), p.1248-1264
• Main Authors: Sindhu, S., Sripathi, Shubashini K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Medicine; Pharmacy; Review
• ISSN: 1981-528X; 1981-528X
• DOI: 10.1007/s43450-024-00584-x

Phytoestrogenic plants are found to serve as a secure substitute for hormone replacement therapy practiced at present to treat adverse effects of menopause. Women endure many adverse effects at the menopausal and postmenopausal stage due to deficiency in the hormone estrogen. Phytoestrogens are a class of chemicals synthesized by plants which mimic the biological activity of mammalian estrogen. This review emphasizes on the family-based classification of plants rich in phytoestrogens, the type of phytoestrogens each family produces, the various assays and methods adopted to assess phytoestrogenic activity of the plant extracts, and the natural substances isolated from these plants. It is based on literature collected from SciFinder, Sci-Hub, and Google Scholar databases for the period 1888 to 2023 on phytoestrogenic plants. The search yielded 742 references from which 78 medicinal plants with estrogenic activity have been identified. Isoflavones, flavones, chalcones, lignans, sterols, stilbenes, and diarylheptanoids are the general class of compounds isolated from these plants and validated for their estrogenic potential. The plant family Fabaceae holds a major count of 27 estrogenic plants. Isoflavonoids genistein, daidzein, and formononetin are the major phytoestrogenic compounds, present in Glycine max (L.) Merr., Trifolium pratense L., Medicago sativa L., and Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch., Fabaceae, inter alia . Graphical Abstract