Saponins are natural compounds found in plants and some marine organisms, with potential health benefits but some are known poisons. They act like soap when shaken in water and have surfactant properties due to their structure. They have been studied for their role in plant defense and have anti-cancer and immune-enhancing abilities. Care must be taken when ingesting them until more studies on their safety and efficacy have been done.
Saponins are a group of secondary metabolites found in many plants and some marine organisms. They are made up of a sterol-based structure attached to one or more sugar units. These natural products are of great interest as dietary compounds due to their potential health benefits. However, care must be taken when ingesting them, as some are known poisons.
When shaken in water, saponins act like a soap. Originally, the roots of the soapstone plant, Saponaria, were used as a soap substitute. This genus provided the name for these compounds. Several known members of this class include the heart medicine digitoxin, produced from foxglove which is toxic in high concentrations. The deadly nightshade family is known to produce the solanine toxin.
Surfactants are compounds that can be mixed with oil and water. Saponins possess this ability due to their structure with different types of molecules at each end of the chemical. One end of the compound has one or more sugar units, making that part of the molecule soluble in water. The other end can dissolve in membranes.
The membrane solubility is derived from the sterol ring structure of these chemicals. Often this sterol group is a natural product known as a triterpene. This is a particular type of sterol that contains several oxygen molecules. Although cholesterol fits the chemical definition of a triterpene, plants do produce phytosterols. Contrary to popular belief, plants do not contain cholesterol.
Saponins have been studied for their role in plant defense for many years, and are believed to protect the plant against infection by a variety of plant pathogens. For years it was thought that these compounds are stored inactive until the plant is attacked and, after the attack, the molecule is activated by cleavage of the sugar. Recent studies suggest that some of these compounds could be induced by infection rather than always being present in an inactive form.
After the sugar has been separated from the saponin, the remaining sterol compound is known as an aglycone. It can insert into membranes, causing a variety of biological effects. It can change the fluidity of the membrane and can cause channels to open in the membranes. Within the human digestive system, bacteria can remove sugars and generate the active aglycone.
Several test-tube studies have suggested that the various saponins have anti-cancer abilities and immune-enhancing abilities. Soybean saponins are of particular interest. The ability to protect against infection is believed to extend to mammals that have eaten plants containing these secondary metabolites. There is a lot of interest in consuming these compounds as phytonutrients to improve health. It may be wise to avoid consumption of saponins until more studies on the safety and efficacy of these compounds have been done.
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