phytoestrogen

English

Etymology

From phyto- +‎ estrogen.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌfaɪ.təʊˈiː.stɹəd͡ʒ.ən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌfaɪ.toʊˈɛ.stɹəd͡ʒ.ən/

Noun

phytoestrogen (plural phytoestrogens)

1. (biochemistry) A substance found in certain plants (such as genistein) which can produce effects like that of the hormone estrogen when ingested into the body.
   • 2015 July 25, “Divide and Conquer May Not Be the Optimal Approach to Retain the Desirable Estrogenic Attributes of the Cyclopia Nutraceutical Extract, SM6Met”, in PLOS ONE‎^[1], →DOI:

     Furthermore, Kumar et al. investigated the synergistic effects of three phytoestrogens (genistein, quercetin and biochanin A) and found that these phytoestrogens in combination had a more potent inhibitory effect on androgen-responsive prostate cancer cell growth in vitro.

   • 2016 June 21, Susan Scutti, “Herbal remedies improve early menopause symptoms”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     “Overall, we did not find an association between phytoestrogens and night sweats,” Muka said, though a single experiment with red clover found a reduction in the frequency of night sweats. This is insufficient, though, to draw any firm conclusions.
     “A main concern of our study was the length of follow-up,” Muka said. Since most of the research included just 12 to 16 weeks of follow-up, he and his colleagues cannot define the long-term effects of phytoestrogen and whether they might have adverse effects over time.

Hypernyms

• xenoestrogen

Hyponyms

• isoflavone

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: fytoestrogeeni
• Polish: fitoestrogen (pl) m

References

• “phytoestrogen”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “phytoestrogen”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.