Abstract
Estimating polyphenol intake contributes to the understanding of polyphenols’ health benefits. However, information about human polyphenol intake is scarce, especially in the elderly. This study aimed to estimate the dietary intake and major sources of polyphenols and to determine whether there is any relationship between polyphenol intake and micronutrient intake in healthy elderly Japanese. First, 610 subjects (569 men, 41 women; aged 67.3 ± 6.1 years) completed food frequency questionnaires. We then calculated their total polyphenol intake using our polyphenol content database. Their average total polyphenol intake was 1492 ± 665 mg/day, the greatest part of which was provided by beverages (79.1%). The daily polyphenol intake differed largely among individuals (183–4854 mg/day), also attributable mostly to beverage consumption. Coffee (43.2%) and green tea (26.6%) were the major sources of total polyphenol; the top 20 food items accounted for >90%. The polyphenol intake did not strongly correlate with the intake of any micronutrient, suggesting that polyphenols may exert health benefits independently of nutritional intake. The polyphenol intake in this elderly population was slightly higher than previous data in Japanese adults, and beverages such as coffee and green tea contributed highly to the intake.
Highlights
Polyphenols are present in high amounts in most plant foods and beverages [1], and cannot be synthesized by humans [2]
This is in line with our previous study showing that beverages accounted for approx. 80% of the total intake, and that coffee and green tea were the major sources of dietary polyphenol [30]
Our recent study using a beverage survey of approx. 10,000 Japanese men and women indicated that the polyphenol intake from beverages was larger in the elderly than in the young or middle-aged and greater among the men than the women, and that the polyphenol intake was influenced by the amounts of coffee and green tea consumed [30]
Summary
Polyphenols are present in high amounts in most plant foods and beverages [1], and cannot be synthesized by humans [2]. In the 1990s, several epidemiological studies demonstrated that dietary polyphenol consumption is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease [3,4]. As the basic and clinical research progressed, multiple functions of polyphenols contributing to human health were identified [5,6]. To elucidate the contribution of polyphenols to human health, it is necessary to estimate individuals’ polyphenol intake in their daily diet. Through the estimation of dietary polyphenols, several cohort studies have shown an inverse association between polyphenol intake and the risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases [14,15,16,17,18,19,20], cancers [21,22,23,24,25], and all-cause mortality [26]. Information about polyphenol intake in Japanese populations is still limited [28]
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