Physiologically based kinetic modelling based prediction of oral systemic bioavailability of flavonoids, their metabolites, and their biological effects

Flavonoids, abundantly present in fruits and vegetables, have been reported to exert various positive health effects based on in vitro bioassays. However, effects detected in in vitro models cannot be directly correlated to human health as most in vitro studies have been performed using flavonoid aglycones at high concentration ignoring extensive metabolism of flavonoids in the human body. To better understand positive health effects of flavonoids in humans, it is of importance to gain insight in at which form and concentration flavonoids are present in the systemic circulation after consumption. This insight can be obtained using physiologically based kinetic (PBK) computer modeling. The results obtained show that PBK modeling provides a useful additional research tool for studies on the fate of flavonoids in the human body and can reveal at what oral dose levels of flavonoids in vitro positive health effects can be expected to occur in vivo, presenting opportunities that are not easily provided by other methods.