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Review
. 2023 Aug 30:14:1237845.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1237845. eCollection 2023.

Protective effect of phytoestrogens on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in postmenopausal women

ChenLu Zhao #  1 , JunHao Shi #  1 , DongFang Shang  2 , Min Guo  2 , Cheng Zhou  1 , WenXia Zhao  2
Affiliations
Review

Protective effect of phytoestrogens on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in postmenopausal women

ChenLu Zhao et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a progressive metabolic disease characterized by hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis that seriously endangers global public health. Epidemiological studies have shown that the incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in postmenopausal women has significantly increased. Studies have shown that estrogen deficiency is the main reason for this situation, and supplementing estrogen has become a new direction for preventing the occurrence of postmenopausal fatty liver. However, although classical estrogen replacement therapy can reduce the incidence of postmenopausal NAFLD, it has the risk of increasing stroke and cardiovascular diseases, so it is not suitable for the treatment of postmenopausal NAFLD. More and more recent studies have provided evidence that phytoestrogens are a promising method for the treatment of postmenopausal NAFLD. However, the mechanism of phytoestrogens in preventing and treating postmenopausal NAFLD is still unclear. This paper summarizes the clinical and basic research evidence of phytoestrogens and reviews the potential therapeutic effects of phytoestrogens in postmenopausal NAFLD from six angles: enhancing lipid metabolism in liver and adipose tissue, enhancing glucose metabolism, reducing oxidative stress, reducing the inflammatory response, regulating intestinal flora, and blocking liver fibrosis (Graphical Abstract).

Keywords: glucose metabolism; inflammatory response; intestinal flora; lipid metabolism; non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; oxidative stress; phytoestrogens(PEs); postmenopausal women.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Molecular structure of phytoestrogens.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The mechanism of phytoestrogens regulating liver lipid metabolism.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The mechanism of phytoestrogens in alleviating liver inflammatory response.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Role of phytoestrogens in postmenopausal NAFLD.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos 81473651, 81904161), Construction Project of Characteristic Backbone Discipline of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Henan Province (STG-ZYXKY-2020024).

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