Suchergebnisse

BACKGROUND: Flavonoids are a group of phenolic secondary plant metabolites that are ubiquitous in plant-based diets. Data from anthropological, observational and intervention studies have shown that many flavonoids are bioactive. For this reason, there is an increasing interest in investigating the potential health effects of these compounds. The translation of these findings into the context of the health of the general public requires detailed information on habitual dietary intake. However, only limited data are currently available for European populations. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to determine the habitual intake and main sources of anthocyanidins, flavanols, flavanones, flavones, flavonols, proanthocyanidins, theaflavins and thearubigins in the European Union. DESIGN: We use food consumption data from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the FLAVIOLA Food Composition Database to estimate intake of flavonoids. RESULTS: Mean (±SEM) intake of total flavonoids in Europe was 428±49 mg/d, of which 136±14 mg/d were monomeric compounds. Gallated flavan-3-ols (53±12 mg/d) were the main contributor. The lowest flavonoid intake was observed in Mediterranean countries (monomeric compounds: 95±11 mg/d). The distribution of intake was skewed in many countries, especially in Germany (monomeric flavonoids; mean intake: 181 mg/d; median intake: 3 mg/d). CONCLUSIONS: The habitual intake of flavonoids in Europe is below the amounts found to have a significant health effect. ; This project was supported by the European Union (grant 226588, "Flaviola"). Mars, Inc., a member of the FLAVIOLA research consortium, provided support in the form of salaries for author HS, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. ; This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128132.

Background Flavonoids are a group of phenolic secondary plant metabolites that are ubiquitous in plant-based diets. Data from anthropological, observational and intervention studies have shown that many flavonoids are bioactive. For this reason, there is an increasing interest in investigating the potential health effects of these compounds. The translation of these findings into the context of the health of the general public requires detailed information on habitual dietary intake. However, only limited data are currently available for European populations. Objective The objective of this study is to determine the habitual intake and main sources of anthocyanidins, flavanols, flavanones, flavones, flavonols, proanthocyanidins, theaflavins and thearubigins in the European Union. Design We use food consumption data from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the FLAVIOLA Food Composition Database to estimate intake of flavonoids. Results Mean (±SEM) intake of total flavonoids in Europe was 428±49 mg/d, of which 136±14 mg/d were monomeric compounds. Gallated flavan-3-ols (53±12 mg/d) were the main contributor. The lowest flavonoid intake was observed in Mediterranean countries (monomeric compounds: 95±11 mg/d). The distribution of intake was skewed in many countries, especially in Germany (monomeric flavonoids; mean intake: 181 mg/d; median intake: 3 mg/d). Conclusions The habitual intake of flavonoids in Europe is below the amounts found to have a significant health effect.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank Keith Summerhill, Laura Wang, and Stephen Young for the measurement of plasma phospholipid fatty acids. We also want to thank all the participants in the EPIC-Norfolk study. Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit MC_UU_12015/1 and MC_UU_12015/5; Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research MC_UP_A090_1006; Cambridge Lipidomics Biomarker Research Initiative G0800783; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Cambridge: Nutrition, Diet, and Lifestyle Research Theme (IS-BRC-1215-20014). Dr Ju-Sheng Zheng has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 701708. ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF