Present Status and Perspectives on the Use of Alkylresorcinols as Biomarkers of Wholegrain Wheat and Rye Intake

Abstract

Alkylresorcinols (ARs) were first proposed as potential biomarkers of wholegrain wheat and rye intake a decade ago. Since then there has been a considerable body of research which suggests that ARs do meet most criteria of a biomarker of these foods. Results from human studies on plasma AR and their plasma and urinary metabolites strongly indicate that these compounds are responsive to whole grain wheat and rye intake and are correlated with various measures of AR consumption. This review briefly summarises work on the bioactivities of AR and focuses on aspects related to their use as biomarkers of whole grain wheat and rye intake. Evidence suggests that they thus far broadly fulfil the criteria to act as biomarkers of these cereals. However, there are still gaps in the knowledge on factors relating to the wide interindividual variation, and application to different epidemiological cohorts. Overall, ARs are highly promising biomarkers of whole grain wheat and rye intake and add to our increasing understanding of whole grains and health.

Plasma Alkylresorcinols, Biomarkers of Whole-Grain Intake, Are Related to Lower BMI in Older Adults

“…Although several studies have related estimates of wholegrain intake to concentrations of plasma AR (5,12,16,17,27,32), most of these studies were conducted in adults living in northern Europe where habitual whole-grain intake may be higher than in the United States (daily consumption <16 g or 1 serving) (33). For example, the mean intake of whole grains in a general Danish population was ;35 g/d (;2 servings) (12).…”

“…In the present study, the correlation coefficient between plasma AR and whole-grain wheat-based foods was 0.31. In other studies, reported correlation coefficients between plasma AR concentration and whole-grain intake ranged from 0.25 to 0.58, depending mostly on the dietary assessment tool used but also on study population, sample size, and type of study (i.e., observational or intervention) (27). In a large cohort of overweight participants undergoing a whole-grain-based intervention in the United Kingdom, the correlation between plasma AR and estimates of whole-grain intake derived from a general diet FFQ was 0.36.…”

“…Winsorization was applied to one extreme outlying value of plasma AR: the observation of 698.3 nmol/L was converted to 390 nmol/L, 1 unit greater than the second highest plasma AR value. Plasma AR concentration was adjusted for fasting plasma TG via the residual method for regression analysis (25), because TG are important predictors of plasma AR concentration (26,27). We calculated age, sex, and energy-adjusted means or geometric means for lifestyle and dietary characteristics across increasing quartile categories of plasma AR by using general linear models.…”

Cytotoxicity of N-dodecanoyl-L-homoserine lactone and 5-N-dodecyl resorcinol to human granulocytes and monocytes: a comparative study

“…The basic concentrations varied from 10 -4 M to 10 -7 M, which corresponded to the experimentally-detected presence of HSLs and RLs in biological liquids and tissues of humans [5,6].…”

“…The RLs are synthesised by some pro-and eukaryotes [3] and operate as inductors of bacterial cell transition into the dormant stage [4]. On the other hand, these amphiphilic substances diffuse easily through epithelial barriers into human liquids and tissues where experimentally detected HSLs and RLs concentrations vary from nano-to micro-molar [5,6]. As a result, HSLs affect the function of a wide range of mammalian cell types (including cells of the immune system), repress the production of DOI: 10.5114/ceji.2013.37752 cytokines, disrupt the function of antigen-presenting cells [7,8], and alter cell metabolism and cycling [9].…”