Despite the evidence regarding the influence of certain polyphenol food sources on the metabolic profile in feces, the association between the different phenolics provided by the diet and the fecal phenolic profile has not been elucidated. In this study, the composition of phenolic metabolites in fecal solutions was analyzed by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS in 74 volunteers. This fecal phenolic profile showed a high interindividual variation of the different compounds analyzed, phenylacetic and phenylpropionic acids being the major classes of phenolic metabolites excreted in feces. Subjects with higher adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern presented greater fecal concentrations of benzoic and 3-hydroxyphenylacetic acids, positively correlated with the intake of the principal classes and subclasses of polyphenols and fibers, and higher levels of Clostridium cluster XVIa and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. These results provide a link among the Mediterranean dietary pattern, the bioactive compounds of the diet, and the fecal metabolic phenolic profile.

This work was funded through the Grant GRUPIN14-043 “Microbiota Humana, Alimentacion y Salud from Plan Regional de Investigacion del Principado de Asturias, Spain, and by a grant from Biopolis SL. within the framework of the e-CENIT Project SENIFOOD from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and the Project AGL2015-64522-C2-R from the Spanish MINECO. N.S. was the recipient of a postdoctoral contract supported by a Clarin regional grant (ACB 14-08) cofinanced by the Marie Curie CoFund European Program.

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