Pharmacological and Molecular Mechanism of Action of Daidzein: An Updated Review

Medicinal plants have proved to be of great importance since long back as they are traditionally used to make plant-derived medicines that are a good alternative to synthetic chemicals. Daidzein is one such chemical compound that belongs to the group of isoflavones and is obtained from leguminous plants, especially soy plants. Daidzein is structurally similar to human hormone estrogen due to which is also called a phytoestrogen. Daidzein is an isoflavone compound that is mostly found in glycosylated form in plants while in humans it is found in free form in the bloodstream. It is clinically used in treatment of variety of cancers. It has become quite successful in treating ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and thyroid cancer. Daidzein also possess some exquisite properties such as anti-inflammatory properties, anti-oxidant properties, and neuroprotective properties. In this paper mechanical properties of daidzein are also discussed in which daidzein has been proved as an excellent wood adhesive agent for industrial purpose. Also, daidzein is used as flame retardant and is doing good in dietary supplementations. Daidzein can be important for further pharmaceutical and industrial applications.