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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BHNRC) » Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center » Food Composition and Methods Development Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #109648
Title: LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHIC METHOD FOR THE SEPARATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF PROMINENT FLAVONOIDS AGLYCONES

Author
item Merken, Howard
item Beecher, Gary

Submitted to: Journal of Chromatography
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/31/2000
Publication Date: 9/1/2000
Citation: Merken, H.M., Beecher, G.R. 2000. Liquid chromatographic method for the separation and quantification of prominent flavonoids aglycones. Journal of Chromatography. 897:177-184.

Interpretive Summary: Many beneficial health effects have been attributed to flavonoids which are prevalent in plant-based foods. The association between dietary intake of flavonoids and health requires simple analytical procedures and databases of food values for these components. The literature is replete with chromatographic systems which are capable of measuring flavonoid content across one, two, and even three of the five common subclasses of flavonoids found in foods. However many foods and mixed diets, in particular, contain members of all five subclasses of flavonoids. We have developed an HPLC system for the separation and quantification of seventeen flavonoids, as their aglycones, which represent all five subclasses and are expected to be prominent in commonly consumed foods. The retention times of over fifty other closely related compounds and food constituents were determined with this system. It is expected that this system will be employed extensively by commercial, academic, industrial and government laboratories to measure the flavonoid content of foods. The resulting data will be used to build a database of flavonoid values for foods which will be paramount to the development of an association between flavonoid intake and human health.

Technical Abstract: Many beneficial health effects have been attributed to flavonoids, which are prevalent in plant-based foods. The literature is replete with chromatographic systems which are capable of measuring flavonoid content across one, two, and even three of the five common subclasses of flavonoids found in foods. However many foods and mixed diets, in particular, contain members of all five subclasses of flavonoids. We have developed an HPLC system for the separation and quantification of seventeen flavonoids, as their aglycones, which represent all five subclasses and are expected to be prominent in commonly consumed foods.