Bioavailability of flavonoids and cinnamic acids and their effect on plasma homosysteine in humans

Dietary antioxidants might prevent oxidative damage to tissues and therefore protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer. Dietary phenols are strong antioxidants in vitro but their role in vivo is uncertain. Furthermore, there are only limited data on their bioavailability in humans. The aim of this thesis was to investigate whether bioavailability data on flavonoids and cinnamic acids support the hypothesis that they can affect health in humans . Because the group of phenols in foods is huge, we focussed our research on major phenols in foods; the flavonol quercetin, black tea phenols and chlorogenic acid (5-caffeoylquinic acid). We studied their bioavailability and effect on plasma homocysteine in humans, a potential risk factor for cardiovascular disease.The bioavailability of quercetin and chlorogenic acid depends upon their conjugated moieties. Hollman et al. found that the bioavailability of quercetin-3-rutinoside, a major flavonol in tea, was only 20% of that of quercetin-4'-glucoside. We found that transformation of quercetin-3-rutinoside into quercetin-3-glucoside will improve its bioavailability because the 3-glucoside had the same high bioavailability as the 4'-glucoside. Caffeic acid is a major phenol in coffee, but it is present as a conjugate with quinic acid, called chlorogenic acid. We found that the conjugation of caffeic acid with quinic acid hinders absorption in humans: absorption of chlorogenic acid was only 30% of that of its caffeic acid moiety.Furthermore, we found that chlorogenic acid, black tea solids and quercetin-3-rutinoside are extensively metabolized in the human body, mainly before they reach the circulation. Their metabolites have no, or less, antioxidant activity in vitro than their parent phenols. Therefore the role of dietary phenols as antioxidants in vivo might be less important than suggested by their in vitro antioxidant activity.Coffee consumption increases plasma homocysteine, a potential risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Chlorogenic acid from coffee is partly responsible for the homocysteine-raising effect of coffee, because we found that it increased plasma homocysteine. Black tea solids also raised plasma homocysteine, whereas quercetin-3-rutinoside did not. Furthermore, we found that glycination of metabolites of phenols in the body is not involved in the homocysteine-raising effect of phenols.In conclusion, chlorogenic acid, tea phenols and quercetin are available in the human body, but their effects on health are uncertain. Further research on bioavailability and health effects of dietary phenols is needed.