Bioavailability of anthocyanins and colonic polyphenol metabolites following consumption of aronia berry extract

A single-dose pharmacokinetic trial was conducted in 6 adults to evaluate the bioavailability of anthocyanins and colonic polyphenol metabolites after consumption of 500 mg aronia berry extract. UHPLC-MS methods were developed to quantitate aronia berry polyphenols and their metabolites in plasma and urine. While anthocyanins were bioavailable, microbial phenolic catabolites increased ∼10-fold more than anthocyanins in plasma and urine. Among the anthocyanins, cyanidin-3-O-galactoside was rapidly metabolized to peonidin-3-O-galactoside. Aronia polyphenols were absorbed and extensively metabolized with tmax of anthocyanins and other polyphenol catabolites from 1.0 h to 6.33 h in plasma and urine. Despite significant inter-individual variation in pharmacokinetic parameters, concentrations of polyphenol metabolites in plasma and urine at 24 h were positively correlated with total AUC in plasma and urine (r = 0.93, and r = 0.98, respectively). This suggests that fasting blood and urine collections could be used to estimate polyphenol bioavailability and metabolism after aronia polyphenol consumption.