Occurrence of hormonally active compounds in food: a review

The present review gives an overview of the occurrence of hormones, hormone mimics, and hormone antagonists in food. The first part deals comprehensiv ely with concentrations of the human sex steroid hormones progesterone, 17 beta-estradiol estrone, and testosterone in animal and vegetable food. The dietary in take of steroid hormones (10 mu g/day progesterone, 0.1 mu g/day estrogens, and 0.05 mu g/day testosterone) is negligible compared to the h uman endogenous hormone synthesis. The second part addresses the phytoestro gens (isoflavones, coumestans, other bioflavonoids, lignans, phytosterols), which occur in food in much higher amounts than steroid hormones. Therefor e, they can cause hormonal effects although their estrogen equivalents (rel ative to 17 beta-estradiol) are estimated to be 10(-2)-10(-4). These effect s can be beneficial or adverse, depending on the effectiveness and amount o f the ingested hormone agonist, synergistic, and antagonistic effects with other dietary or endogenous hormones, interactions with other dietary compo unds (e.g. fiber and fat intake), and the hormonal status of the individual . The review also summarizes the occurrence of steroid hormone precursors a nd of other growth-related hormones in food (corticosteroids, indole-3-carb inol, protein hormones). It ends with the presentation of residues and cont aminants of fungal or anthropogenic origin (mycoestrogens, pesticides, plas tic or food additives, industrial chemicals) which have also shown hormonal or hormone-blocking properties.