ABSTRACT
Estrogenic activity in plants has been documented in the scientific literature for over 70 years 1 , 2 , including more than half of the species of plants used as food by human populations over the millennia 3 . In some situations, certain plants have traditional uses probably as a result of their estrogenic properties. For example Pueraria Mirifica, a woody vine native to Thailand, has been used as a rejuvenant and an aphrodisiac over the centuries; its active principle, miroestrol, has a potency three times that of diethylstilbestrol 4 . Ginseng is used by Chinese herbalists to treat hot flushes 5 and has been associated with mastalgia 6 and changes in vaginal cytology in postmenopausal women; a crude methanolic extract has been shown to compete with estradiol for binding to human myometrial cytosol receptors 7 .
