This is a repository copy of Comparison of the urinary excretion of quercetin glycosides from red onion and aglycone from dietary supplements in healthy subjects: A randomized, single-blinded, cross-over study.

12 Some intervention studies have shown that quercetin supplementation can regulate certain biomarkers, 13 but it is not clear how the doses given relate to dietary quercetin (e.g. from onion). We conducted a 14 two-period, two-sequence crossover study to compare the bioavailability of quercetin when 15 administered in the form of fresh red onion meal (naturally glycosylated quercetin) or dietary 16 supplement (aglycone quercetin) under fasting conditions. Six healthy, non-smoking, adult males with 17 BMI 22.7 ± 4.0 kg m2 and age 35.3 ± 12.3 y were grouped to take the two study meals in random 18 order. In each of the 2 study periods, one serving of onion soup (made from 100 g fresh red onion, 19 providing 156.3 ± 3.4 μmol (47 mg) quercetin) or a single dose of a quercetin dihydrate tablet (1800 ± 20 150 μmol (544 mg) of quercetin) were administered following 3 d washout. Urine samples were 21 collected up to 24 h, and after enzyme deconjugation, quercetin was quantified by LC-MS. The 24-h 22 urinary excretion of quercetin (1.69 ± 0.79 μmol) from red onion in soup was not significantly different 23 to that (1.17 ± 0.44 μmol) for the quercetin supplement tablet (P = 0.065, paired t-test). This means 24 that, in practice, 166 mg of quercetin supplement would be comparable to about 10 mg of quercetin 25 aglycone equivalents from onion. These data allow intervention studies on quercetin giving either food 26 or supplements to be more effectively compared. 27