• 대한한방소아과학회지
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.59-77
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• 2015

Objectives Medical plant has a big role in Herbal Medicines, and most medical plant has phytoestrogens. Therefore some estrogenic effects have been reported in a lot of Korean Medicine literature. Phytoestrogens should be used carefully in children. The objective of this study is to identify reported phytoestrogenic effects in Herbal Medicines and to evaluate the characteristics of the phytoestrogens in Herbal Medicines. Methods A literature search was done with using 8 databases with a limit of reports until 12/31/2013. The estrogenic effects were summarized by each individual Korean Medicine. The frequency of the phytoestrogens was also investigated depending on the Korean medical categorization by the treatment effect. Results and Conclusions Phytoestrogenic effects were reported in 89 Herbal Medicines. Phytoestrogens were act bidirectionally, and the effect was fairly weak compared to estrogen. Phytoestrogenic effect was variable on different cells and tissues. The most frequent phytoestrogenic effect was in tonifying and replenishing medicinal, the following orders were heat-clearing, exterior-releasing, and blood-activating and stasis-dispelling medicinal. Phytoestrogens were not reported in dampness-resolving, digestant, orifice-opening, emetic medicinal.