A new ultra-rapid UHPLC/MS/MS method for assessing glucoraphanin and sulforaphane bioavailability in human urine

Sulforaphane (SFN) is the product of the enzymatic hydrolysis of glucoraphanin (GR), the main glucosinolate present in broccoli sprouts. The beneficial actions attributed to SFN are mainly supported by in dietary study not clear. Surely the panellists ate more than just the broccoli portion – please clarify vitro experiments; further in vivo assays are necessary to analyse the described biological actions in humans. A new ultra-fast, accurate, robust, and selective UHPLC/MS/MS procedure (2-min chromatogram; >87% recovery; LOQ and LOD of 20–156 and 4–20 nmol L−1, respectively; and intra- and inter-day variations lower than 10%) was used for the simultaneous determination of GR and SFN in human urine. The analytical capacity of this novel method was further tested by determining the bioavailability of GR and its metabolic derivatives in urine from volunteers after the consumption of ½ and 1 servings of broccoli sprouts (30 and 60 g, respectively). Bioavailability values for SFN of up to 40% after a single intake of both ½ and 1 servings showed the suitability of the new method for the determination of exogenous metabolites following dietary interventions.