The flavone, flavonol and flavan-3-ol content of the Greek traditional diet

Flavonoids are an important category of plant antioxidants and evidence is accumulating on their favorable effects against the development of heart disease and certain forms of cancer. We analytically determined the flavonol (quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, isorhamnetin), flavone (luteolin, apigenin) and flavan-3-ol (catechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epigallocatechin gallate, epicatechin gallate) content of a weekly menu representative of the Greek traditional diet. The overall daily average content was found 79.01 mg of which flavonols contribute 47% (37.17 mg/day), flavan-3-ols 40% (31.67 mg/day) and flavones 13% (10.17 mg/day). The levels of agreement between the analytical results and the respective theoretical flavonoid calculations conducted previously on the same weekly menu ranged widely, indicating that caution should be taken when calculated flavonoid values are to be used in epidemiological studies. Compared to northern European and American diets, the traditional Greek diet has a higher flavonoid content, at least with respect to flavones, flavonols and flavan-3-ols.