## 4 Discussion
Bioprocessing treatments significantly increased the extractability in free form for several plant metabolites such as salicylic acid, p-hydroxy benzoic acid, benzoic acid, luteolin and ferulic acid, suggesting the possible release of molecules early in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract during the digestion of treated hempseed screening, and therefore an improvement of their systemic bioavailability. As these molecules are found in plant products of dietary relevance, such as cereals, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices, they are extensively researched for their potential health benefits. This includes salicylic acid for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, decreasing the risk of developing cancer [40] and ferulic acid for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrosis, anti-apoptotic, anti-platelet activities [41]. Collectively, these data indicate that hempseed screenings for development of functional ingredients to promote systemic health and should be considered for use in nutritional therapies for prevention of chronic diseases. Bioprocessing treatments also significantly increased the extractability of catechin, protocatechuric acid, vanillic acid and p-coumaric acid in the alkaline-labile forms, suggesting that these molecules may potentially be released during microbial fermentation of the biogeochemical treated hempseed screening. This could potentially improve their bioavailability in the colon. Intestinal absorption of dietary catechins is quite low, resulting in most of them being metabolised by gut microbiota in the colon. Catechins are molecules found in abundance in green tea, therefore, their health benefits are extensively studied [42]. Protocatechuric acid is found in abundance in soft fruits and studied for a multitude of health benefits reviewed by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [43], such as anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anticancer, to name a few. Bioprocessing treatments of hempseed screenings could, therefore, boost levels of catechin absorbed early in the GI tract. We observed that catechin present in the product obtained after in vitro digestion was metabolised during microbial incubation with human mixed microbiota, resulting in a decrease in its concentration. This was also the case of p-coumaric acid, which was also extensively metabolised during microbial incubation, and while its concentration was decreased, this was accompanied by an increase in benzoic acid and phenylacetic acid, two potential microbial metabolites of p-coumaric acid [44]. After syringaresinol, _p_-coumaric was the second most abundant molecule measured in the hempseed screening samples and was also found exclusively in the bound form. The molecules extractable in their free form, in most cases, were those also measured in the supernatants following in vitro digestion. Moreover, significant increases in the extractability of the molecules predominantly measured in the free form following the bioprocessing treatments were also solubilised during in vitro digestion of these matrixes. For the molecules mostly measured in their bound form, solubilization by in vitro early GI bioavailability was low. These molecules were also found to be mostly resistant to the impact of the bioprocessing treatments. Hence, this was the trend for several plant metabolites, their increase in content in free form following the bioprocessing treatments was not always translating into their high in vitro early GI bioavailability. These results suggest that the bioprocessing treatments and in vitro digestion treatments showed no impact on microbial metabolism, and both the raw material and bioprocessed screenings were metabolised within 24 h. The metabolites with consistent increases were mainly the microbial metabolites of protein, specifically the aromatic amino acids, tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine, and also ferulic acid, p-cumaric, and syringaresinol, as these were also the most abundant components measured in the hempseed screening samples.