Screening of different phenolic compounds classes bioavailability and bioaccessibility, through an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion system

Introduction: For centuries, plants have been seen by humans as an essential source of food or natural healthcare products.1 In an effort to improve consumers health' and well-being, much effort is being centered on the exploitation of their biological activities.2 Phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites with a huge structural diversity and widely distributed in the plant kingdom, and thus, commonly present in human diet, as part of the natural diet, or as supplements. Due to their vast range of biological activities (such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and/or antiproliferative) have been considered very promising in the prevention of some disorders.2-5 Notwithstanding, these human health beneficial effects could be influenced by phenolic compounds bioavailability. In fact, bioavailability could be influenced by a huge diversity of factors, namely, compound’s structure, human enzymatic activity, gut microbiota, among others.6 In this vein, this work aimed to evaluate the bioavailability and intestinal absorption of different classes of phenolic compounds through an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. This screening allowed to determine the enzymatic-resistance of these phenolic compounds and understand the percentage of simulated intestine absorption. Conclusions: The studied phenolic compounds have been widely screened by the scientific community for their biological activities, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative, thus, as they seem to reach the intestine intact, they may be very promising in the prevention of some intestinal diseases. Similarly, their absorption could result in human beneficial effects.