Phytoestrogens. State of the art

A short overview of recent advances of phytoestrogen research is presented. Developments have particularly been made with regard to methods, food anal yses, pharmacokinetics, receptor studies, mechanisms of action and effects on cancer. Most studies deal with isoflavones, but the interest in lignans is increasing as a result of a large rye project in the Nordic countries. T he development of rapid time-resolved immunofluorescence assays in 20 mu l plasma samples for enterolactone, genistein and daidzein has resulted in th e initiation of many prospective studies on cancer risk using blood bank ma terial. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.