Carratù Brunella, Sanzini Elisabetta
Centro Nazionale per la Qualita degli Alimenti e per i Rischi Alimentari, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Ann Ist Super Sanita. 2005;41(1):7-16.
Phytochemicals constitute a heterogeneous group of substances and evidence for their role in the protective effect on human health, when their dietary intake is significant, is emerging. These compounds have biological properties as antioxidant activity, modulation of detoxification enzymes, stimulation of the immune system, decrease of platelet aggregation and modulation of hormone metabolism. Glucosinolates and widely group of polyphenols, including the main category of flavonoids, are examined. Since their weak estrogenic activity is of interest at present, isoflavones are discussed at length. Numerous factors affect the phytochemical content and availability in plants; these factors include environmental conditions and industrial or domestic processing. The bioavailability of phytochemicals can be influenced by intrinsic factors in food and/or in human, in general the substances are little adsorbed, largely metabolized and rapidly eliminated. For this reason it is advisable that their consumption is constant in the time to maintain high concentrations of metabolites in the blood.
植物化学物质是一类异质的物质，当它们的膳食摄入量显著时，其对人体健康保护作用的证据正在不断涌现。这些化合物具有抗氧化活性、解毒酶调节、免疫系统刺激、血小板聚集减少和激素代谢调节等生物学特性。本文研究了硫代葡萄糖苷和包括主要类黄酮在内的广泛的多酚类物质。由于目前人们对异黄酮的弱雌激素活性感兴趣，因此对其进行了详细讨论。许多因素会影响植物中植物化学物质的含量和可利用性；这些因素包括环境条件以及工业或家庭加工。植物化学物质的生物利用度会受到食物和/或人体内在因素的影响，一般来说，这些物质很少被吸收，大多会被代谢并迅速排出。因此，建议持续食用它们，以维持血液中代谢产物的高浓度。
