499
22.6.4 Other Plant Parts Extracts
Apart from leaves, roots and seeds, the phytochemical extracts from other parts of
Fabaceae plants contain isoflavones. The flowers of Lotus japonicus (Shimada et al.
2003), Nelumbo nucifera (Deng et al. 2013) and Lotus conumbricensis (VisnevschiNecrasov et al. 2016) contains different compounds of isoflavones. Likewise, the
flowers of Pueraria thomsonii (Hirayama et al. 2011), red clover (Xu et al. 2006),
soybean (Takahashi et al. 2012) and Kudzu (Delmonte et al. 2006) were also proved
to contain high concentration of isoflavones. In addition, the plant parts of
Glycyrrhiza glabra (Parvaiz et al. 2014), rhizomes of Belamcanda chinensis (Shin
et al. 1999), plant parts of Caragana changduensis (Sun et al. 2015), heartwood of
Maackia amurensis (Maksimov et al. 1985) and Millettia ferruginea (Choudhury
et al. 2015) were also being proved to contain isoflavones in their extracts. These
isoflavones will also be useful as a nutritional additives or pharmaceutical agent and
curative agent for the treatment of cardiovascular ailments.
22.7 Future Scope
It is apparent that the study of isoflavones and their effects on human health will
become an ever-increasing topic in the future because of their therapeutic potentials.
As our wisdom of specific isoflavones excels, there will undoubtedly be the opening
of newer dimensions in newer application forms that will precisely benefit human
beings. Research endeavours should be focussed on detailed understanding of different dietary isoflavones so as to harness all the beneficial effects. Studies related
to these compounds in an exhaustive and comprehensive way will enhance pharmaceutical exploration in the field of carcinogenic disease prevention. This detailed
information will be extremely helpful for the pharmacognosist, ethno botanists,
botanist and pharmacologist for the collection and identification of the plant for
their research work. Health benefits of isoflavones undoubtedly justify the interest
towards a definite direction, but the possible controversial outcomes of some clinical and epidemiological studies reaffirm the need of further investigations and subsequent fine tuning.
22.8 Conclusion
Isoflavones are molecules displaying various biological activities with relevance to
plant physiology and development. They have an active protective role against
harmful abiotic factors and their interactions with other plants and microorganisms.
To assess the clinical effects of select foods with a plethora of bioactive compounds
containing isoflavones as epidemiologic and cell line evidence, new vistas of
22 Health Benefits of Isoflavones Found Exclusively of Plants of the Fabaceae Family
22.6.4 Other Plant Parts Extracts
Apart from leaves, roots and seeds, the phytochemical extracts from other parts of
Fabaceae plants contain isoflavones. The flowers of Lotus japonicus (Shimada et al.
2003), Nelumbo nucifera (Deng et al. 2013) and Lotus conumbricensis (VisnevschiNecrasov et al. 2016) contains different compounds of isoflavones. Likewise, the
flowers of Pueraria thomsonii (Hirayama et al. 2011), red clover (Xu et al. 2006),
soybean (Takahashi et al. 2012) and Kudzu (Delmonte et al. 2006) were also proved
to contain high concentration of isoflavones. In addition, the plant parts of
Glycyrrhiza glabra (Parvaiz et al. 2014), rhizomes of Belamcanda chinensis (Shin
et al. 1999), plant parts of Caragana changduensis (Sun et al. 2015), heartwood of
Maackia amurensis (Maksimov et al. 1985) and Millettia ferruginea (Choudhury
et al. 2015) were also being proved to contain isoflavones in their extracts. These
isoflavones will also be useful as a nutritional additives or pharmaceutical agent and
curative agent for the treatment of cardiovascular ailments.
22.7 Future Scope
It is apparent that the study of isoflavones and their effects on human health will
become an ever-increasing topic in the future because of their therapeutic potentials.
As our wisdom of specific isoflavones excels, there will undoubtedly be the opening
of newer dimensions in newer application forms that will precisely benefit human
beings. Research endeavours should be focussed on detailed understanding of different dietary isoflavones so as to harness all the beneficial effects. Studies related
to these compounds in an exhaustive and comprehensive way will enhance pharmaceutical exploration in the field of carcinogenic disease prevention. This detailed
information will be extremely helpful for the pharmacognosist, ethno botanists,
botanist and pharmacologist for the collection and identification of the plant for
their research work. Health benefits of isoflavones undoubtedly justify the interest
towards a definite direction, but the possible controversial outcomes of some clinical and epidemiological studies reaffirm the need of further investigations and subsequent fine tuning.
22.8 Conclusion
Isoflavones are molecules displaying various biological activities with relevance to
plant physiology and development. They have an active protective role against
harmful abiotic factors and their interactions with other plants and microorganisms.
To assess the clinical effects of select foods with a plethora of bioactive compounds
containing isoflavones as epidemiologic and cell line evidence, new vistas of
22 Health Benefits of Isoflavones Found Exclusively of Plants of the Fabaceae Family