2. Academic Validation
  3. Estimation of caffeine intake from analysis of caffeine metabolites in wastewater

Estimation of caffeine intake from analysis of caffeine metabolites in wastewater

  • Sci Total Environ. 2017 Dec 31;609:1582-1588. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.07.258.
Emma Gracia-Lor 1,  Nikolaos I Rousis 2,  Ettore Zuccato 2,  Richard Bade 3,  Jose Antonio Baz-Lomba 4,  Erika Castrignanò 5,  Ana Causanilles 6,  Félix Hernández 7,  Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern 5,  Juliet Kinyua 8,  Ann-Kathrin McCall 9,  Alexander L N van Nuijs 8,  Benedek G Plósz 10,  Pedram Ramin 11,  Yeonsuk Ryu 4,  Miguel M Santos 12,  Kevin Thomas 13,  Pim de Voogt 14,  Zhugen Yang 15,  Sara Castiglioni 16
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Via La Masa 19, 20156 Milan, Italy; Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat s/n, E-12071 Castellon, Spain. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 2 IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Via La Masa 19, 20156 Milan, Italy.
  • 3 Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat s/n, E-12071 Castellon, Spain; School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
  • 4 Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Gaustadalléen 21, 0349 Oslo, Norway; Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, PO Box 1078, Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway.
  • 5 University of Bath, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom.
  • 6 KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Chemical Water Quality and Health, P.O. Box 1072, 3430 BB Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.
  • 7 Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat s/n, E-12071 Castellon, Spain.
  • 8 Toxicological Center, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Campus Drie Eiken, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium.
  • 9 Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
  • 10 Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet, Building 115, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
  • 11 Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet, Building 115, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Søltofts Plads, Building 229, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
  • 12 CIMAR/CIIMAR-Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Avenida General Norton de Matos, S/N, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal; FCUP - Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
  • 13 Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Gaustadalléen 21, 0349 Oslo, Norway; Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), University of Queensland, 39 Kessels Road Coopers Plains, Queensland 4108, Australia.
  • 14 KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Chemical Water Quality and Health, P.O. Box 1072, 3430 BB Nieuwegein, The Netherlands; Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  • 15 University of Bath, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom; Division of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, United Kingdom.
  • 16 IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Via La Masa 19, 20156 Milan, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 28810510 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.07.258
Abstract

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.

Keywords

1,7-dimethyluric acid; Back-calculation; Caffeine; Correction factor; Urinary biomarkers; Wastewater-based epidemiology.

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