Identification of Urinary Food Intake Biomarkers for Milk, Cheese, and Soy-Based Drink by Untargeted GC-MS and NMR in Healthy Humans

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Linda H. Münger
  • Alessia Trimigno
  • Gianfranco Picone
  • Carola Freiburghaus
  • Grégory Pimentel
  • Kathryn J. Burton
  • François P. Pralong
  • Nathalie Vionnet
  • Francesco Capozzi
  • René Badertscher
  • Guy Vergères

The measurement of food intake biomarkers (FIBs) in biofluids represents an objective tool for dietary assessment. FIBs of milk and cheese still need more investigation due to the absence of candidate markers. Thus, an acute intervention study has been performed to sensitively and specifically identify candidate FIBs. Eleven healthy male and female volunteers participated in the randomized, controlled crossover study that tested a single intake of milk and cheese as test products, and soy-based drink as a control. Urine samples were collected at baseline and up to 24 h at distinct time intervals (0-1, 1-2, 2-4, 4-6, 6-12, and 12-24 h) and were analyzed using an untargeted multiplatform approach (GC-MS and 1H NMR). Lactose, galactose, and galactonate were identified exclusively after milk intake while for other metabolites (allantoin, hippurate, galactitol, and galactono-1,5-lactone) a significant increase has been observed. Urinary 3-phenyllactic acid was the only compound specifically reflecting cheese intake although alanine, proline, and pyroglutamic acid were found at significantly higher levels after cheese consumption. In addition, several novel candidate markers for soy drink were identified, such as pinitol and trigonelline. Together, these candidate FIBs of dairy intake could serve as a basis for future validation studies under free-living conditions.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Proteome Research
Volume16
Issue number9
Pages (from-to)3321-3335
Number of pages15
ISSN1535-3893
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • biomarker, cheese, metabolomics, milk, nutrition, soy drink, urinary metabolome

ID: 228369043