Lignans are essentially phytonutrients - beneficial plant compounds that are not officially classified as vitamins. Lignans can be found in trace amounts in certain plants, unrefined grain products, fruits, vegetables, and seeds - notably flax and sesame. HMRlignan in particular is 7-hydroxymatairesinol, which is found naturally in the Norway Spruce (Picea abies), a species of tree native to the Scandinavian Peninsula.

Finland, where HMRlignan was developed, is a center of academic excellence for the study of phytoestrogens. It was researchers at the prestigious University of Helsinki who established the relationship between the lignan 7-hydroxymatairesinol and lower incidences of breast cancer, prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease. Upon ingestion, 7-hydroxymatairesinol is directly converted into 'human lignans', primarily enterolactone, which exerts a mild, estrogen-like activity. The gentle, hormone-like action of enterlactone is beneficial in menopausal and post-menopausal women as well as middle-aged men due to its protection against gender-related hormonally induced cancers (i.e. of the breast and prostate) as well as its overall cardiovascular benefits. 7-hydroxymatairesinol does not need to be cleaved in the gastrointestinal tract before it can be metabolized into the desired molecule enterolactone, effectively making 7-hydroxymatairesinol the world's first and only direct enterolactone precursor.

Enterolactone is one of the most recent factors to be isolated and identified for its direct association with cardiovascular health. In fact, large-scale human studies published in 2002 and 2003 in both the United States and Finland respectively established the link between cardiovascular mortality rates and plasma enterolactone levels in both men and women. The US study, known as the Framingham Offspring Study, was cross-sectional and highly extensive in its scope, involving 939 post-menopausal women. It found that the women with the lowest intake of lignans were three times more likely to experience some sort of cardiovascular condition according to a test called the Metabolic Syndrome Score, designed in accordance with WHO (World Health Organization) criteria. As noted earlier, lignans are the precursors to enterolactone and their intake determines plasma enterolactone levels. The Finnish study examined 1,889 middle-aged men over an average period of 12 years and found "significant associations between elevated serum enterolactone concentration and reduced risk of coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease - related mortality".

Breast cancer is widely considered by the medical community to be a hormone-regulated disease with estrogen known to play a disproportionately large role in its development. Enterolactone inhibits estrogen by gently binding to the estrogen receptors, effectively serving as a mild anti-estrogen in its own right. Furthermore, enterolactone stimulates the production of a natural biochemical called sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), which also inhibits circulating estrogen. Finally, there is evidence that enterolactone compromises the very synthesis of estrogen itself by blocking aromatase, a key enzyme required for the synthesis of estradiol (an important estrogenic hormone).

In prostate health, an increasing body of evidence points to the benefits of lignans in the maintenance of prostatic well-being, and suggests that enterolactone may directly inhibit the growth and signaling of cancer cells. Research has indicated that enterolactone's specific anti-estrogenic activities may reduce the growth of a hormone-dependent prostate.

There are other areas where HMRlignan can exert benefits as well. It must be remembered that enterolactone serves as both a mild estrogen and anti-estrogen. This is of particular importance to the management of menopause, namely the several-year period when estrogen levels are in flux, leading to a cessation of menstruation. When estrogen levels decline, enterolactone exerts a weak estrogenic effect, mimicking the presence of estrogen. When estrogen levels are too high, enterolactone occupies and blocks estrogen receptors, thereby smoothing the peaks and valleys. This estrogen-stabilizing capability may also have implications for bone health, and indeed a 2002 Korean study identified a link between enterolactone levels and incidence of osteoporosis in post-menopausal women.