Phytoprogestins: Unexplored food compounds with potential preventive and therapeutic effects in female diseases

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in natural therapies to prevent or treat female diseases. In particular, many studies have focused on searching natural compounds with less side effects than standard hormonal therapies. While phytoestrogen-based therapies have been extensively studied, treatments with phytoprogestins reported in the literature are very rare. In this review, we focused on compounds of natural origin, which have progestin effects and that could be good candidates for preventing and treating female diseases. We identified the following phytoprogestins: kaempferol, apigenin, luteolin, and naringenin. In vitro studies showed promising results such as the antitumoral effects of kaempferol, apigenin and luteolin, and the anti-fibrotic effects of naringenin. Although limited data are available, it seems that phytoprogestins could be a promising tool for preventing and treating hormone-dependent diseases.