Alkylresorcinols and Their Metabolites as Biomarkers for Whole grain Wheat and Rye

Book chapter, 2021

To overcome some of the obstacles of the traditional assessment methods, biochemical indicators or biomarkers may be used for intake estimation. Biomarkers can be classified into three categories: exposure, effect and susceptibility biomarkers. Exposure biomarkers include xenobiotics, their metabolites and endogenous surrogates that can be related to an exposure. Biomarkers in nutritional research can be used to reflect the exposure of a food, nutrient or a dietary pattern. The development of a general biomarker that can reflect intake of all varieties of whole grain (WG) products eaten worldwide is unlikely, due to the wide range of cereals that are consumed as WG. Alkylresorcinols are phenolic lipids abundant in the bran of wheat, rye, barley and triticale. The reproducibility is an important feature of a biomarker as it indicates how representative a single measurement is of the true biomarker status over a certain time period.