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. 2019 Jun 26;11(7):1441. doi: 10.3390/nu11071441

Table 3.

Nutrikinetic parameters of metabolites detected in human plasma after consuming a conventional soluble cocoa product (CC) and a flavanol-rich soluble cocoa product (CC-PP) containing 19.80 and 68.25 mg of flavanols, respectively. Values represent mean ± standard deviation (n = 13).

CC CC-PP p Value
(CC vs CC-PP)
Metabolite Cmax
(µM)		 Tmax
(h)		 AUC
(µM min−1)		 Cmax
(µM)		 Tmax
(h)		 AUC
(µM min−1)		 Cmax Tmax AUC
Intestinal absorption
Epicatechin-3′-glucuronide 0.025 ± 0.001 1.5 ± 0.5 0.072 ± 0.028 0.037 ± 0.001 1.4 ± 0.8 0.110 ± 0.066 <0.05 N.S. N.S.
Epicatechin-3′-sulfate 0.026 ± 0.003 1.0 ± 0.1 0.101 ± 0.023 0.042 ± 0.004 1.2 ± 0.5 0.109 ± 0.076 N.S. N.S. N.S.
Epicatechin-methoxy-sulfate (isomer 1) 0.031 ± 0.003 1.3 ± 0.6 0.122 ± 0.025 0.041 ± 0.002 1.1 ± 0.6 0.173 ± 0.107 <0.05 N.S. N.S.
Epicatechin-methoxy-sulfate (isomer 2) N.D. 0.041 ± 0.004 1.3 ± 0.5 0.145 ± 0.107 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05
Microbial metabolites
DHPVL 0.035 ± 0.008 6.0 ± 1.6 0.124 ± 0.073 0.037 ± 0.007 5.5 ± 1.4 0.192 ± 0.029 N.S. N.S. N.S.
HPVL-3′-glucuronide 0.031 ± 0.004 5.6 ± 0.8 0.106 ± 0.021 0.357 ± 0.200 5.0 ± 1.2 1.433 ± 0.727 <0.05 N.S. <0.05
HPVL-sulfate 0.336 ± 0.240 5.3 ± 2.4 1.150 ± 0.742 0.332 ± 0.161 4.9 ± 1.2 1.384 ± 0.648 N.S. N.S. N.S.
PVL-methoxy-glucuronide 0.022 ± 0.001 5.3 ± 1.0 0.078 ± 0.032 0.027 ± 0.003 5.6 ± 1.3 0.091 ± 0.059 <0.05 N.S. N.S.
PVL-3′-sulfate b Traces (4–6) a 0.039 ± 0.014 5.2 ± 2.2 0.161 ± 0.105 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05
HHPVA-sulfate N.D. 0.037 ± 0.008 6.3 ± 1.8 0.167 ± 0.068 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05

AUC: area under the curve; DHPVL: 5-(3′,4′-dihydroxyphenyl)-γ-valerolactone; HPVL: 5-(3′-hydroxyphenyl)-γ-valerolactone; PVL: 5-phenyl-γ-valerolactone; HDHPVA: 4-hydroxy-5-(3′,4′-dihydroxyphenyl)valeric acid; N.D.: Not detected; N.S.: Non-significant differences; p values were assessed using the general linear model of variance for repeated measures. a Range where the metabolite showed the highest value. b No pharmacokinetic parameters of these metabolites were determined because they were present at trace levels.