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![]() Posted: Post subject: 'Gender bending' chemicals found in beer and wine |
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New Scientist, UK
9:00 01 September 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Ewen Callaway
Worried about eating too much "gender-bending" soya? It turns out a
host of other foods also contain high levels of oestrogen-like
chemicals, including beer, wine and roasted peanuts.
Gunter Kuhnle of the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit in Cambridge, UK,
and colleagues surveyed dozens of foods and beverages using mass
spectrometry, an extremely sensitive chemical technique. Most previous
surveys of foods and drinks focused on one kind of phytoestrogen that
is found in high levels in nuts and seeds called lignans, but ignored
another kind called isoflavones.
By searching for isoflavones, Kuhnle found that phytoestrogens are
present in far more foods and drinks than had previously been
realised.
Studies on the health effects of phytoestrogens have painted a mixed
and muddled picture. Some have hinted that the compounds protect
against cancer, heart disease and the side-effects of the menopause,
while others have linked high levels to an increased risk of breast
cancer and male infertility. Still others have documented no link
between phytoestrogens and those same ailments. So snack at your own
risk – or reward.
Journal reference: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (DOI:
10.1021/jf801534g)
(c) Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.
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Sent to me by: Stephanie Stevens
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