Development of a flavonoid database for assessing population exposures and its application

Abstract

Flavanoids are a family of polyphenolic compounds found in foods of plant origin and are of interest because of their potential role in health and disease prevention. Many knowledge gaps exist in the study of flavonoids, including the lack of a comprehensive food composition database so assessing population exposure is difficult. To address this need, flavonoid data from the USDA Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods, 3.0 (2011) was applied to over 7,000 foods in the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, 4.1, the database used for analyzing dietary intakes in What We Eat in America (WWEIA), NHANES. The USDA Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods, 3.0 has been expanded to include 26 aglycone compounds in 5 subclasses – flavonols, flavones, flavanones, flavan‐3‐ols, & anthocyanidins, & 3 isoflavones compounds in 3,000 foods. Further, the database was applied to food intake data from 8,529 males and females, ages 2 year & older from WWEIA, NHANES 2007–2008 to determine major foods sources of individual classes of flavonoids in the U.S. population. For example, onions and apples are among the important food sources of the flavonol ‐ quercetin. The database provides researchers for the first time with a tool to assess intake patterns of individual flavonoid compounds, identify foods that are major contributors, and investigate diet‐disease relationships in the U.S. population.