Health Benefits of Isoflavones Found Exclusively of Plants of the Fabaceae Family

Abstract

This chapter presents recent studies on the health benefits of isoflavones from the flowering plants of the Leguminosae family- Fabaceae, which are commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family. Notable agricultural and food plants in this family are Glycine max (soybean), Phaseolus (beans), Pisum sativum (pea), Medicago sativa (alfalfa), Arachis hypogaea (peanut), Ceratonia siliqua (carob), and Glycyrrhiza glabra (liquorice). It was established from literary sources that extracts from these plants, including the invasive species contains important isoflavones. Prominent among the isoflavones biologically active aglycones: genistein, daidzein, and glycitein. Other isoflavones are ononin and sissotrin, with their aglycones, formononetin and biochanin A respectively. These compounds have been described to be active against some life-threatening diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases among others.