Impact of chlorogenic acids from coffee on urine metabolome in healthy human subjects

- Acute intake of CGAs from coffee impacts on central energetic metabolism.
- Sustained intake of CGAs from coffee plays a role in microbiota-derived compounds.
- Trigonelline is a coffee extract beverage biomarker in short- and long-term.
- Direct excretion of trigonelline would avoid interindividual variation.
- The use of uni- and multivariate analyses reinforced the biological effects.

Several studies suggest that coffee has some benefits for health; however, little is known about the specific role of the main polyphenol compounds of coffee, chlorogenic acids (CGAs), without caffeine interaction. A 1H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H-NMR)-based metabolomics approach was used to assess the effect of CGAs from coffee on the human urine metabolome. Ten male volunteers participated in a dietary crossover randomized intervention study with a rich CGAs coffee extract beverage (CEB: 223 mg/100 ml of CGAs). The study consisted of a daily intake of CEB or a control beverage with equal caffeine dose during 28 days. Fasting urines collected at the first and last days of each period of the study were analyzed using an CGAs untargeted 1H-NMR approach. Additionally, 4-hour postpandrial urines after the first intake of each beverage were also analyzed. Uni- and multi-variate statistic approaches were used to strengthen the results. Multilevel partial least squares discriminant analysis (ML-PLS-DA) was used to paired comparisons across the crossover design. A further univariate analysis model for crossover studies was performed to assess the significant changes. Acute consumption of CEB resulted in high excretion of 2-furoylglycine, likewise endogenous compounds such as succinic, citric, 3-methyl-2-oxovaleric and isobutyric acids. Sustained consumption of CEB showed an increase of microbiota-derived compounds such as hippuric, 3-(3-Hydroxyphenyl)-3-hydroxypropionic and 3-hydroxyhippuric acids in urine. Moreover, trigonelline was found in urine after both acute and sustained intakes, as well as in the composition of the beverage exhibiting a direct excretion of this biomarker without any biotransformation, suggesting a non-interindividual variation.