Accumulation of plasma levels of anthocyanins following multiple saskatoon berry supplements

Abstract

1. Anthocyanins are a subgroup of flavonoids responsible for the blue, purple and red color of many fruits, flowers and leaves. Consumption of foods rich in anthocyanins is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Most food intervention studies employ once or twice per day dose schedules.

2. The current study demonstrated that plasma concentrations of cyanidin-3-galactoside and cyanidin-3-xyloside, the two major components of saskatoon berries, were significantly increased following three consecutive saskatoon berry supplements 4 hours apart. This accumulation is due to the residual concentrations of anthocyanins at the time of second and third supplements.

3. Accumulation was especially pronounced for peonidin-3-glucoside and peonidin-3-galactoside, the methylated metabolites of cyanidin-3-glucoside and cyanidin-3-galactoside, respectively. Little or no accumulation was observed for cyanidin-3-arabinoside and cyanidin-3-glucoside, two other components of saskatoon berries, possibly due to their short half-lives.

4. Thus, taking anthocyanin supplements with every meal would provide higher plasma concentrations for some anthocyanins and their metabolites than the once or twice-a-day dose regimens.

Keywords:

• Anthocyanin
• absorption
• metabolism
• saskatoon berry
• accumulation
• dose regimen

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Jialin Liu for assistance in the volunteer study. The authors are also in debt to Deborah Michel and Anas El-Aneed for assistance and advice on mass spectrometry. The authors wish to thank Gen Clark for assisting with the preparation of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Canada (Agriculture Development Fund #20110138).