Urinary excretion of Citrus flavanones and their major catabolites after consumption of fresh oranges and pasteurized orange juice: A randomized cross-over study

• Published in: Molecular nutrition & food research 2016-12, Vol.60 (12), p.2602-2610
• Main Authors: Aschoff, Julian K., Riedl, Ken M., Cooperstone, Jessica L., Högel, Josef, Bosy-Westphal, Anja, Schwartz, Steven J., Carle, Reinhold, Schweiggert, Ralf M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Bioavailability; Biological Availability; Citrus; Citrus sinensis - chemistry; Cross-Over Studies; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Flavanones - administration & dosage; Flavanones - pharmacokinetics; Flavanones - urine; Flavonoids; Food Analysis; Fruit - chemistry; Fruit and Vegetable Juices - analysis; Hesperetin; Hesperidin - urine; Hippurates - urine; Humans; Metabolism; Naringenin; Pasteurization; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1613-4125; 1613-4133
• DOI: 10.1002/mnfr.201600315

Scope Orange juice contains flavanones including hesperidin and narirutin, albeit at lower concentrations as compared to orange fruit. Therefore, we compared bioavailability and colonic catabolism of flavanones from orange juice to a 2.4‐fold higher dose from fresh oranges. Methods and results Following a randomized two‐way cross‐over design, 12 healthy subjects consumed a test meal comprising either fresh oranges or pasteurized orange juice, delivering 1774 and 751 μmol of total Citrus flavanones, respectively. Deglucuronidated and desulfated hesperetin, naringenin, and the flavanone catabolites 3‐(3′‐hydroxy‐4′‐methoxyphenyl)propionic acid, 3‐(3′‐hydroxyphenyl)hydracrylic acid, 4‐hydroxyhippuric acid, and hippuric acid were quantitated in 24‐h urine by UHPLC‐MS/MS. Differences in urinary hesperetin excretion were found to be nonsignificant (p = 0.5209) both after consumption of orange fruit (21.6 ± 8.0 μmol) and juice (18.3 ± 7.2 μmol). By analogy, postprandial flavanone catabolite excretions were highly similar between treatments. Excretion of 3‐(3′‐hydroxy‐4′‐methoxyphenyl)propionic acid was inversely related to that of hesperetin, illustrating the catabolite/precursor relationship. Conclusion Despite 2.4‐fold higher doses, excretion of flavanones from ingested fresh orange fruit did not differ from that following orange juice consumption, possibly due to a saturation of absorption or their entrapment in the fiber‐rich matrix of the fruit. Oranges and orange juice are rich dietary sources of potentially health beneficial flavonoids. Although orange juice contains substantially less flavonoids by weight than orange fruit, the participants of our randomized cross‐over clinical trial excreted similar amounts of the flavonoid hesperetin and its main colonic catabolites after consumption of either test meal. In brief, despite its lower flavonoid contents, orange juice may still be considered a rich source of these valuable dietary constituents.