Effects of dietary grapeseed extract on performance, energy and nitrogen balance as well as methane and nitrogen losses of lambs and goat kids

The influence of phenol-rich dietary grapeseed extract on performance, energy and N balance and methane production was determined in sixteen lambs and thirteen goat kids (body weight 20·5 and 19·0 kg, 2 months of age, day 1 of study). Half of the animals received a concentrate containing grapeseed extract, and the others received concentrate without grapeseed extract (total extractable phenols analysed 27 v. 9 g/kg dietary DM; concentrate and hay 1:1). Diets were fed for 7 weeks with 1 week for determining intake, excretion and gaseous exchange in metabolism crates and respiration chambers. Overall, there was an adverse effect of the phenolic diet on apparent N digestibility and body N retention. Faecal N loss as proportion of N intake increased while urinary N loss declined. Relative to N intake, total N excretion was higher and body N retention lower in goat kids than lambs. Diets and animal species had no effect on methane emissions. The saliva of the goat kids had a higher binding capacity for condensed tannins (CT). Goat kids on the phenolic diet had higher CT concentrations in faeces and excreted more CT compared with the lambs (interaction species × diet P < 0·001). The lambs had overall higher (P < 0·001) urinary phenol concentrations than the goat kids (2·19 v. 1·48 g/l). The negative effect on body N retention and lack of effect on methane emissions make the use of the extract in the dosage applied not appealing. Species differences need to be considered in future studies.

Procyanidins are not bioavailable in rats fed a single meal containing a grapeseed extract or the procyanidin dimer B3

Flavanols are the most abundant flavonoids in the human diet where they exist as monomers, oligomers and polymers. In the present study, catechin, the procyanidin dimer B3 and a grapeseed extract containing catechin, epicatechin and a mixture of procyanidins were fed to rats in a single meal. After the meals, catechin and epicatechin were present in conjugated forms in both plasma and urine. In contrast, no procyanidins or conjugates were detected in the plasma or urine of any rats. Procyanidins were not cleaved into bioavailable monomers and had no significant effects on the plasma levels or urinary excretion of the monomers when supplied together in the grapeseed extract. We conclude that the nutritional effects of dietary procyanidins are unlikely to be due to procyanidins themselves or monomeric metabolites with the intact flavonoid-ring structure, as they do not exist at detectable concentrations in vivo. Future research should focus on other procyanidin metabolites such as phenolic acids and on the effects of the unabsorbed oligomers and polymers on the human gastrointestinal tract.