Estimation of caffeine intake from analysis of caffeine metabolites in wastewater
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Caffeine metabolites in wastewater were investigated as potential biomarkers for assessing caffeine intake in a population. The main human urinary metabolites of caffeine were measured in the urban wastewater of ten European cities and the metabolic profiles in wastewater were compared with the human urinary excretion profile. A good match was found for 1,7-dimethyluric acid, an exclusive caffeine metabolite, suggesting that might be a suitable biomarker in wastewater for assessing population-level caffeine consumption. A correction factor was developed considering the percentage of excretion of this metabolite in humans, according to published pharmacokinetic studies. Daily caffeine intake estimated from wastewater analysis was compared with the average daily intake calculated from the average amount of coffee consumed by country per capita. Good agreement was found in some cities but further information is needed to standardize this approach. Wastewater analysis proved useful to providing additional local information on caffeine use.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Science of the Total Environment |
| Volume | 609 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1582-1588 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| ISSN | 0048-9697 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
Financial support from the SEWPROF Marie Curie ITN project ?A new paradigm in drug use and human health risk assessment: Sewage profiling at the community level? [grant agreement 317205] supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration and from the COST Action ES1307 ?SCORE ? Sewage biomarker analysis for community health assessment? is gratefully acknowledged. Emma Gracia-Lor extends her gratitude to Generalitat Valenciana, Conselleria d'Educaci?, Investigaci?, Cultura i Esport for her postdoctoral contract (APOSTD/2015, Programa VALi?+?d). Alexander van Nuijs acknowledges FWO Flanders (1285216N) for financial support. We are grateful to Christoph Ort for his comments and suggestions and to the personnel from all WWTPs for their support in wastewater sampling, particularly Francesco Poretti and Armando Foletti from Consorzio Depurazione Acque Lugano e Dintorni (CDALED) in Lugano for their kind support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.
- 1,7-dimethyluric acid, Back-calculation, Caffeine, Correction factor, Urinary biomarkers, Wastewater-based epidemiology
Research areas
ID: 275536777