Isoflavones protective mechanisms against cardiovascular diseases

Abstract

Isoflavones are polyphenolic compounds and a class of phytoestrogens nat-urally present in plants belongs to legume family and also quantified in fruits, vegetables and beverages.Soybean is rich source of isoflavones. Their chemical structure is similar to endogenously available female reproductive hormonal substance estradiol,and cellular targets are estrogen receptors. After bind to the estrogen receptors isoflavones exert estrogenic and anti-estrogenic action based upon circulatory levels of estradiol. Cardiovascular diseases are leading cause of death in most of the developing countries and they may occur due to the structural and functional changes in either cardiac muscle or smooth muscle of the vasculature and both. Common cardiac diseases are heart attack, coronary heart disease, hyperlipidaemia, angina pectoris, hypertension. Many epidemiological studies data revealing that consumption of soy protein and soy enriched diet correlate with preventive chances of cardiovascular disease. The United States Food and Drug Adminis-tration (USFDA) and other countries declared that everyday consumption of food enriched soy along with low fat may decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. In this review we attempt the mechanism based cardioprotection of isoflavones in different cardiovascular diseases.