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Phytoestrogens are chemicals developed by plants which mimic the effects of sex hormones like estrogen and act as a defense against animals. When animals eat plants with phytoestrogens, they disrupt animals’ reproductive capability. Chemist Carl Djerassi also modeled the first birth control pill on phytoestrogens produced by the Mexican yam.
Phytoestrogens Quotes in Survival of the Sickest
The Survival of the Sickest quotes below are all either spoken by Phytoestrogens or refer to Phytoestrogens. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 4 Quotes
On the other hand, as much as plants want animals to eat their fruit, they don’t want animals to get much closer than that—when creatures start to nibble on their leaves or gnaw at their roots, things can get tricky. So plants have to be able to defend themselves. Just because they’re generally immobile doesn't mean they’re pushovers.
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Sharon Moalem (speaker)
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Page Number and Citation:
78
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This chapter explores the relationship between plant and animal evolution more generally, and in this quote Moalem illustrates some of the ways in which this happens. Plants develop fruit because they want animals to eat them: this gives their species a greater chance of surviving and reproducing, because the seeds are spread around in other areas. In turn, animals who learn that plants’ fruits are good to eat are better able to survive because they have better food sources and are thus more likely to reproduce. The relationship is largely symbiotic, because each receives a benefit from the other and they each develop adaptations to take advantage of that relationship between plants and animals.
However, when animals begin to eat more than the plants’ fruit, as Moalem points out here, the relationship becomes less symbiotic. Yet the plants also begin to develop other tools with which to combat the animals’ eating habits. Moalem cites examples like thorns, chemicals like phytoestrogens that interfere with animals’ reproductive systems, and other toxins. Thus, Moalem shows how the plant and animal kingdoms are deeply interconnected: when one evolves, the other quickly follows, spurring mutation and adaptation in a constant cycle.
The next time you’re looking for some convenient birth control, you don’t have to snack on a field of clover, of course. But if you take many forms of the famous “Pill,” you’re not doing something all that different. The gifted chemist Carl Djerassi based his development of the Pill on just this kind of botanical birth control. He wasn’t using clover, though; he was using sweet potatoes—the Mexican yam to be exact.
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Phytoestrogens Term Timeline in Survival of the Sickest
The timeline below shows where the term Phytoestrogens appears in Survival of the Sickest. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4: Hey, Bud, Can You Do Me a Fava?
...sweet potato, and soy all belong to a group of plants that contain chemicals called phytoestrogens. These chemicals mimic the effects of sex hormones like estrogen, and the compounds diminish animals’...
(full context)
Many plant toxins can be harmful but also come with benefits: phytoestrogens can stop the growth of prostate cancer cells and may ease the effects of menopause....
(full context)
