Hearty Soybeans Phytoestrogens

The risks of antibiotic use are not at all connected to their origin. Semisynthetic and fully synthetic drugs may both be relatively harmless or may come with a number of side effects. Most of these side effects are unpleasant rather than dangerous to the health of the patient, and public concern about them is greatly exaggerated. Most of the time, side effects appear when antibiotics are not used properly. Without them, millions of people would die prematurely every year around the world. 

Needless to say, articles based on this theory do not miss pointing out that soy is present in more than 20,000 food products including bread, cooking oil, cream, ice cream, and even meat products. Another shocking fact is that babies may consume an amoimt of hormones equivalent to 5-6 contraceptive pills every day with their soy-based formtrla. Apparently, one can imagine that all the troubles of humankind have been isolated to a single reason. 

Plant-derived lignans have no direct estrogen activity, but gut bacteria transform some of them to compounds with hormone-mimicking effects. Flax seeds arrd whole grain cereals contain significant amounts of such lignans. 

The most important of the stilbenes is trans-resveratrol, relatively large amorrrrts of which are present in red wine ( 2.10). There is good reason to assume that this compotmd contributes to the beneficial effects of red wine cortstrmptiort. 

Corrmestans are the least significant phytoestrogerrs from a hurtran poirrt of view. Comnestrol is the most noted member of this group that has hormone activity (Fig. 3.39), it is fotmd in soy sprouts. 

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