The fate of benzoic acid in various species

Abstract

1. The urinary excretion of orally administered [(14)C]benzoic acid in man and 20 other species of animal was examined. 2. At a dose of 50mg/kg, benzoic acid was excreted by the rodents (rat, mouse, guinea pig, golden hamster, steppe lemming and gerbil), the rabbit, the cat and the capuchin monkey almost entirely as hippuric acid (95-100% of 24h excretion). 3. In man at a dose of 1mg/kg and the rhesus monkey at 20mg/kg benzoic acid was excreted entirely as hippuric acid. 4. At 50mg/kg benzoic acid was excreted as hippuric acid to the extent of about 80% of the 24h excretion in the squirrel monkey, pig, dog, ferret, hedgehog and pigeon, the other 20% being found as benzoyl glucuronide and benzoic acid, the latter possibly arising by decomposition of the former. 5. On increasing the dose of benzoic acid to 200mg/kg in the ferret, the proportion of benzoyl glucuronide excreted increased and that of hippuric acid decreased. This did not occur in the rabbit, which excreted 200mg/kg almost entirely as hippuric acid. It appears that the hedgehog and ferret are like the dog in respect to their metabolism of benzoic acid. 6. The Indian fruit bat produced only traces of hippuric acid and possibly has a defect in the glycine conjugation of benzoic acid. The main metabolite in this animal (dose 50mg/kg) was benzoyl glucuronide. 7. The chicken, side-necked turtle and gecko converted benzoic acid mainly into ornithuric acid, but all three species also excreted smaller amounts of hippuric acid.

Sodium Benzoate, a Food Additive and a Metabolite of Cinnamon, Modifies T Cells at Multiple Steps and Inhibits Adoptive Transfer of Experimental Allergic Encephalomyelitis

“…It has been reported that a 2% solution of NaB in drinking water is safe for lifelong treatment in mice without any noticeable side effects (12). In accordance with the published reports (13,14), a minor amount of benzoic acid, a direct metabolite of cinnamic acid (15), is also excreted in the urine of humans.…”

A note on effect of benzoic acid supplementation on the performance and microbiota population of broiler chickens

“…The results of present experiment show the antibacterial effects of benzoic acid in broiler chickens, although lower bacterial counts in gastrointestinal digesta were not reflected in better performance of the birds. Bridges et al (1970) reported that the metabolic pathways of supplemented benzoic acid differ among mammalian species. Polonen et al (2000) studying the effect of benzoic acid in mink, blue fox and racoon have found species-specific differences in excreting of this compound among its effects on poultry is scarce.…”

New insights into the bioavailability of red raspberry anthocyanins and ellagitannins

“…4'-Hydroxyhippuric and hippuric acid were also present in urine collected from all the volunteers after raspberry intake with total 0-48 h excretion values of 16.1 ± 1.9 μmol, and 239 ± 55 μmol, respectively. Although hippuric acid, formed by hepatic glycination of benzoic acid, has been described as a common metabolite of many flavonoids [17], it was not included in the calculation of the percentage recovery because its high background levels, originating from other dietary and endogenous sources [18][19][20], make it difficult to determine the amounts derived from the metabolism of anthocyanins. Thus, the overall recovery of anthocyanins and their metabolites observed in this study was 43.9 ± 8.0 μmol which corresponds to 15.0% of anthocyanin intake ( Table 2).…”