Cobalt release from earrings and piercing jewellery - analytical results of a German survey.

Background: Contact sensitization to cobalt is common. Some industrial exposures have been identified, but cobalt allergy is also often diagnosed in 'non-occupational' patients. Exposure of consumers is largely unexplained.

The phenolic acids from bacterial degradation of the mangiferin aglycone are quantified in the feces of pigs after oral ingestion of an extract of Cyclopia genistoides (honeybush tea).

Polyphenols are cleaved by bacterial enzymes to form phenolic acid metabolites in the colon, where they may exert physiologic effects. For norathyriol, the aglycone of mangiferin, one of the major phenolic compounds present in Cyclopia genistoides (honeybush), a further bacterial degradation is likely; but knowledge of the importance of this metabolic process is very limited. Based on a hypothesized cleavage of the middle ring of norathyriol, this study was designed to determine phenolic cleavage products in the feces of pigs fed an extract of C genistoides.

Mangiferin and hesperidin metabolites are absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract of pigs after oral ingestion of a Cyclopia genistoides (honeybush tea) extract.

Health-promoting properties such as antioxidative, anticarcinogenic, and cholesterol-lowering effects are described for mangiferin and hesperidin, the major phenolic compounds present in Cyclopia genistoides (honeybush). However, knowledge of their metabolic fate and their absorption from the gastrointestinal tract is very limited. The aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of mangiferin, hesperidin, and their metabolites in plasma, urine, and feces samples from pigs consuming an extract of Cyclopia genistoides.