Quantification of volatile metabolites derived from garlic in human breast milk

Food Chem. 2019 Feb 15:274:603-610. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.09.039. Epub 2018 Sep 5.

Abstract

Maternal garlic intake during pregnancy and the breastfeeding period has been reported to be associated with the potential of modulating later garlic acceptance in infants. However, the metabolism of garlic constituents in humans and their elimination and potential excretion into human milk are not yet fully understood. In previous studies, we identified volatile garlic-derived metabolites in human milk as well as in human urine, namely allyl methyl sulfide, allyl methyl sulfoxide and allyl methyl sulfone. To monitor the excretion of these garlic metabolites in a larger cohort, we quantified these metabolites in a total of 18 human milk sets, whereby each set comprised of one sample collected before and three samples after garlic consumption. The analyses revealed that the concentrations of the metabolites were most abundant 1-3.5 h after garlic consumption, with distinct differences between test persons regarding metabolite concentrations as well as temporal excretion.

Keywords: Ally methyl sulfide; Allyl methyl sulfone; Allyl methyl sulfoxide; Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; Stable isotope dilution analysis (SIDA).

MeSH terms

  • Allyl Compounds / chemistry
  • Allyl Compounds / metabolism
  • Female
  • Garlic / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Milk, Human / metabolism*
  • Sulfides / chemistry
  • Sulfides / metabolism
  • Volatilization

Substances

  • Allyl Compounds
  • Sulfides
  • allyl methyl sulfide