AP2 Sugars in the diet (markers of food intake)
Markers of food intake are compounds quantified in urine or blood and associated with the consumption of a specific food or food group. This work package will evaluate whether the sugar profile in urine, in combination with the quantification of selected sugars, can be used to calculate total sugar intake and, at the same time, test whether the additional information provided by the sugar profile can also differentiate the source of sugar intake (e.g., fruit, vegetable vs. soda).
Food markers can help to complement the assessment of the dietary intake of specific foods or food groups and therefore correct misreporting in the context of traditional dietary surveys using self-reported questionnaires. For example, urinary excretion of fructose and sucrose reflects total sugar intake, i.e., both naturally occurring sugars (e.g., from fruit) and sugars added to foods are recorded. In addition, there are also rare sugars that occur very specifically in different foods or food groups and can therefore be used as markers for the consumption of such foods. For example, mannoheptulose and perseitol (sugars with 7 carbon atoms in the carbon skeleton) occur specifically in avocado.
The planned evaluation will use sample materials and data from two human intervention studies conducted as part of the JPI FoodBAll project at MRI and INRAe in France. In the studies, cola, apple, banana and tomato were ingested in defined amounts.