Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Angeles, USA, EA was detected at a maximum concentration in the
human plasma of one volunteer after 1 h post-ingestion of 180 mL of
pomegranate juice ('Wonderful' cultivar; containing 25 mg free EA and
318 mg of ETs). The concentration of EA measured in plasma was 31.9
ng/mL (
ca
. 0.1 μM) and was rapidly eliminated in 4 hours (Seeram
et al.
,
2004). In contrast, in a study carried out in Murcia (Spain), where a
healthy volunteer consumed 1 L of pomegranate juice ('Mollar'
cultivar), no EA was detected in plasma during the 4 hours following the
juice intake (Cerdá
et al
., 2004). This difference could be simply due to
inter-individual variability. Another pharmacokinetic study looking at
the absorption of EA from black raspberry has also shown poor but
significant absorption of free EA (less than 1% of the ingested EA)
during the first 2 hours after the intake of berries (Stoner
et al.
, 2005), in
agreement with the results reported (Seeram
et al.
, 2004).
O
HO
O
HO
OH
O
OH
O
ellagic acid (EA)
O
O
HO
O
O
HO
OH
HO
OH
URO-D
OH
URO-C
OH
O
O
O
O
HO
HO
OH
Fig. 7.2 Ellagic acid metabolites produced by intestinal microflora in animals and
humans. URO-D = Urolithin D (
i.e
., tetrahydroxydibenzopyranone); URO-C = Urolithin
C (
i.e.
, trihydroxydibenzopyranone); URO-A = Urolithin A; URO-B = Urolithin B (Espín
et al.
, 2007, Ito
et al.
, 2008).
URO-B
URO-A
