Robust Markers of Coffee Consumption Identified Among the Volatile Organic Compounds in Human Urine

Scope: The human volatilome has gained high interest for the discovery of potential biomarkers of diseases. However, knowledge about the diet as a crucial factor affecting the volatilome is scarce. Therefore, the search for disease biomarkers, as well as the potential use of volatiles as dietary markers is so far limited. The aim of this study is to investigate the association of the diet with the urinary volatilome with the special task to find potential markers of coffee consumption in 24 h urine samples from the Karlsruhe Metabolomics and Nutrition (KarMeN) study.

Methods and results: Acidified urine samples are analyzed using an approach combining headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) sampling with untargeted GC×GC-MS. Overall, 138 reliably occurring volatiles are detected. To account for the unequally concentrated urine samples, results of six different commonly used normalization methods are compared. Statistical analysis evidences six potential markers of coffee consumption, the most promising being 3,4-dimethyl-2,5-furandione. A correlation analysis between the 24 h dietary recall data and the urinary volatilome reveals further promising associations.

Conclusion: The human urinary volatilome is highly affected by the diet, enabling access to a high level of information about potential diet-related biomarkers. Therefore, it is a very promising source for further investigations on dietary markers.