Department of Chemical, University of Messina, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, Viale F. Stagno d'Alcontres 31, Messina, Italy.
Curr Med Chem. 2019;26(27):5094-5107. doi: 10.2174/0929867324666171006143047.
Isoflavones are naturally occurring flavonoids, commonly found in the food consumed for centuries in the East-Asian population, characterized by a structure able to exert nonsteroidal estrogen-like activity on human cells. They have attracted researcher interest all around the word, following the results obtained in epidemiological and clinical studies. The involvement of isoflavones and their metabolites in various biological processes suggests that they can influence several metabolic pathways and can influence the gene expression at epigenetic level, involving effects that probably are due to early life exposure. They show positive health effects on several diseases, especially in the prevention of coronary heart and neurological diseases, hormone-related cancers, osteoporosis, and postmenopausal symptoms.
We have performed a critical evaluation of available literature trough a structured search of bibliographic databases about isoflavones health promoting properties, risk assessment and mechanisms of action. In addition, we supplied useful information on their biochemical properties, sources and bioavailability.
Although these molecules have been the subjects of numerous researches, their role for the wellness of the human organism remains controversial. Moreover, there are substantial inconsistencies between the results obtained by epidemiologic studies conducted on Eastern population, which found high health promoting properties, and Western clinical trials, which found much less positive effects.
Further epidemiologic studies and well-designed prospective human studies are to determine the beneficial effects of isoflavones exposure, as well as establishing its safe therapeutic.
异黄酮是一种天然存在的类黄酮，在东亚人群食用了几个世纪的食物中普遍存在，其结构特征使其能够对人体细胞产生非甾体雌激素样活性。它们在流行病学和临床研究中取得的结果，引起了世界各地研究人员的兴趣。异黄酮及其代谢物参与各种生物过程，表明它们可以影响多种代谢途径，并可以在表观遗传水平上影响基因表达，涉及到可能由于早期暴露而产生的影响。它们对多种疾病显示出积极的健康影响，特别是在预防冠心病和神经疾病、激素相关癌症、骨质疏松症和绝经后症状方面。
我们通过对异黄酮促进健康的特性、风险评估和作用机制的文献进行结构化搜索，对现有文献进行了批判性评估。此外，我们还提供了有关其生化特性、来源和生物利用度的有用信息。
尽管这些分子已经成为许多研究的主题，但它们对人体健康的作用仍然存在争议。此外，在对发现具有高健康促进特性的东亚人群进行的流行病学研究和西方临床试验之间，存在着实质性的不一致。
需要进一步的流行病学研究和精心设计的前瞻性人体研究来确定异黄酮暴露的有益效果，并确定其安全的治疗方法。
