Journal of Chromatography A, 1054 (2004) 157–164 Review Chromatographic analysis of alkylresorcinols and their metabolites Alastair B. Ross ∗ , Per Åman, Roger Andersson, Afaf Kamal-Eldin Department of Food Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Box 7051, S-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden Available online 19 May 2004 Abstract Alkylresorcinols (AR) are phenolic lipids present in high amounts in the bran fraction of wheat and rye. AR are of scientific interest as bioactive compounds, as markers for the presence of wholegrain or bran fractions of wheat and rye in food products, and as possible biomarkers of intake for wholegrain wheat and rye. This review discusses their extraction from cereal grains, food and biological fluids, and the various chromatographic methods used in their analysis. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Reviews; Food analysis; Wheat; Rye; Biomarkers; Alkylresorcinols Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 157 2. Standards .......................................................................................................... 159 3. Extraction of alkylresorcinols ........................................................................................ 159 3.1. Extraction of alkylresorcinols from cereal grains .................................................................. 159 3.2. Extraction of alkylresorcinols from cereal products ................................................................ 159 4. Chromatographic analysis of alkylresorcinols ......................................................................... 159 4.1. Thin layer chromatography ...................................................................................... 159 4.2. Column chromatography ........................................................................................ 160 4.3. Gas chromatography ............................................................................................ 160 4.3.1. GC–MS analysis of alkylresorcinols ....................................................................... 160 4.4. High performance liquid chromatography ........................................................................ 161 5. Analysis of alkylresorcinols in human samples ........................................................................ 162 5.1. Analysis of intact alkylresorcinols in blood ....................................................................... 162 5.2. Analysis of alkylresorcinols and their metabolites in urine ......................................................... 162 5.3. Analysis of alkylresorcinols in illeal digesta ...................................................................... 163 6. Needs for future method development ................................................................................ 163 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 163 References ............................................................................................................ 163 1. Introduction Epidemiological studies strongly indicate that consump- tion of wholegrain cereals is linked to a decreased risk of diseases, such as obesity [1], diabetes [2,3], coronary heart disease [4,5], stroke [6], and some cancers [7–9]. However, ∗ Corresponding author. Present address: Nestl´ e Research Center, CH-1000 Lausanne 26, Switzerland. Tel.: +46-18-67-1000; fax: +46-18-67-2995. E-mail address: Alastair.Ross@lmv.slu.se (A.B. Ross). the mechanisms behind the health benefits of wholegrain cereals are not well-known due to the multifactorial na- ture of these diseases, relatively low incidences of certain diseases that make it hard to get statistically significant results, the difficulty that consumers have in identifying wholegrain products [10], and possible weaknesses of food frequency questionnaires in the estimation of food intake in epidemiological studies [11]. One way of improving the proposed link between consumption of wholegrain cereals and a decreased incidence of disease is to use a biomarker, 0021-9673/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2004.04.020