Medina-Remón Alexander, Tresserra-Rimbau Anna, Arranz Sara, Estruch Ramón, Lamuela-Raventos Rosa M
Nutrition & Food Science Department, XaRTA, Instituto de Investigaciónen Nutrición y Seguridad Alimentaria, Pharmacy School, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Bioanalysis. 2012 Nov;4(22):2705-13. doi: 10.4155/bio.12.249.
Nutritional biomarkers have several advantages in acquiring data for epidemiological and clinical studies over traditional dietary assessment tools, such as food frequency questionnaires. While food frequency questionnaires constitute a subjective methodology, biomarkers can provide a less biased and more accurate measure of specific nutritional intake. A precise estimation of polyphenol consumption requires blood or urine sample biomarkers, although their association is usually highly complex.
This article reviews recent research on urinary polyphenols as potential biomarkers of polyphenol intake, focusing on clinical and epidemiological studies. We also report a potentially useful methodology to assess total polyphenols in urine samples, which allows a rapid, simultaneous determination of total phenols in a large number of samples.
This methodology can be applied in studies evaluating the utility of urinary polyphenols as markers of polyphenol intake, bioavailability and accumulation in the body.
