BACKGROUND Mother's diet during pregnancy is important, since plant lignans and their metabolites, converted by the intestinal microflora to enterolignans, are proposed to possess multiple health benefits. Aim of our study was to investigate whether a dietary intervention affects lignan concentrations in the serum of pregnant women. METHODS A controlled dietary intervention trial including 10...

Five known lignans, (+)-pinoresinol (1), (+)-8-hydroxypinoresinol (2), (-)-dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (3), (+)-trans-dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (4), and (-)-olivil (5), were isolated from the roots of Rosa multiflora for the first time. Their structures were determined using spectroscopic data.

The regioselective demethoxylation and dehalogenation of dihalogenated dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans derivatives were realized in a one-step reaction with excellent yields in the sodium and t-butanol reaction system.

High intake of phytoestrogen lignans has been found to be associated with decreased risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma in our previous population-based case-control study in Sweden. To further evaluate this possible association, we tested the hypothesis of an inverse association between dietary lignan intake and risk of esophageal and gastric adenocarcinoma using a prospective design. In a popul...

Enterolignans (enterodiol and enterolactone) can potentially reduce the risk of certain cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Enterolignans are formed by the intestinal microflora after the consumption of plant lignans. Until recently, only secoisolariciresinol and matairesinol were considered enterolignan precursors, but now several new precursors have been identified, of which lariciresinol an...

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer of men in the Western world, and novel approaches for prostate cancer risk reduction are needed. Plant-derived phenolic compounds attenuate prostate cancer growth in preclinical models by several mechanisms, which is in line with epidemiological findings suggesting that consumption of plant-based diets is associated with low risk of prostate cancer. The...