Dodin Sylvie, Blanchet Claudine, Marc Isabelle
Département d'obstétrique et de gynécologie, Université Laval, Hôpital St-François d'Assise, Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec (CHUQ), Québec, Canada.
Med Sci (Paris). 2003 Oct;19(10):1030-7. doi: 10.1051/medsci/200319101030.
Many women seek alternatives to hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Phytoestrogens are nonsteroidal compounds with estrogenic or antiestrogenic properties. Six of the 16 clinical trials suggest a significant reduction in alleviating symptoms but to a lesser degree than HRT. A meta-analysis showed that phytoestrogens improve lipid profile. The 14 recent clinical trials led, however, to divergent findings. Small clinical trials suggested a protective effect of phytoestrogens on bone metabolism. High concentration of phytoestrogens was associated with a reduction in breast cancer risk in case-control studies.
