>Alcoholic beverages contain not only alcohol but also numerous other substances (i.e., con-
geners) that may contribute to the beverages
physiological effects. Plants used to produce
alcoholic beverages contain estrogenlike substances (i.e., phytoestrogens). Observations that
men with alcoholic cirrhosis often show testicular failure and symptoms of feminization have
suggested that alcoholic beverages may contain biologically active phytoestrogens as con-
geners. Biochemical analyses have identified several phytoestrogens in the congeners of
bourbon, beer, and wine. Studies using subjects who produced no estrogen themselves (i.e.,
rats whose ovaries had been removed and postmenopausal women) demonstrated that phyto-
estrogens in alcoholic beverage congeners exerted estrogenlike effects in both animals and
humans. Those effects were observed even at moderate drinking levels.
