Anthocyanins are natural dietary pigments that could be involved in various health effects. However their mechanisms of absorption are still not fully understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of glucose on anthocyanin absorption in rats. We first studied anthocyanin bioavailability in rats that received by gastric intubation approximately 53 micromol cyanidin 3-glucoside (Cy 3-glc) equivalents from a red orange extract with or without 2.51 mmol glucose. Neither 24-h urinary anthocyanin excretion nor plasma anthocyanin concentration was significantly affected by simultaneous ingestion of glucose. The influence of glucose (12, 42 or 72 mM) on intestinal absorption of Cy 3-glc (pure or from a red orange extract; approximately 12.3 microM) was further studied using an in situ intestinal perfusion model. Absorption of pure Cy 3-glc from the intestinal lumen was not significantly affected by the amount of glucose. However, intestinal absorption of Cy 3-glc from the red orange extract (6.49 +/- 1.44%, n = 6) was significantly less than that of pure Cy 3-glc (17.5 +/- 1.3%, n = 7) (p < 0.01) suggesting that the red orange extract contained other components that were able to interfere with Cy 3-glc intestinal absorption. This study has thus shown that glucose did not interfere with anthocyanin glucoside absorption.