Phenol-Explorer 3.0: a major update of the Phenol-Explorer database to incorporate data on the effects of food processing on polyphenol content

Abstract

Polyphenols are a major class of bioactive phytochemicals whose consumption may play a role in the prevention of a number of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes and cancers. Phenol-Explorer, launched in 2009, is the only freely available web-based database on the content of polyphenols in food and their in vivo metabolism and pharmacokinetics. Here we report the third release of the database (Phenol-Explorer 3.0), which adds data on the effects of food processing on polyphenol contents in foods. Data on >100 foods, covering 161 polyphenols or groups of polyphenols before and after processing, were collected from 129 peer-reviewed publications and entered into new tables linked to the existing relational design. The effect of processing on polyphenol content is expressed in the form of retention factor coefficients, or the proportion of a given polyphenol retained after processing, adjusted for change in water content. The result is the first database on the effects of food processing on polyphenol content and, following the model initially defined for Phenol-Explorer, all data may be traced back to original sources. The new update will allow polyphenol scientists to more accurately estimate polyphenol exposure from dietary surveys.

Figure 1.

Entity-relationship diagram of the Phenol-Explorer 3.0 database showing new tables. New tables for the food processing module are denoted by asterisks.

Figure 2.

Integration of the new food processing module into the graphical user interface.

Figure 3.

Food processing data output for spinach, raw to spinach, boiled. Searching or browsing for a food or polyphenol retrieves a list of aggregated retention factors whose components can then be viewed individually.

Figure 4.

Volume of food processing data in Phenol-Explorer 3.0 by food group and polyphenol subclass. Each of the 1253 final retention factors represented is either a single retention factor obtained from the literature or two or more aggregated retention factors for one of 35 processes or combinations of processes.