Measurement of Minerals in Dietary Supplements by Atomic Absorption

Introduction

Recently, the development and sales of a variety of dietary supplements have increased dramatically against the background of rising public interest regarding health. Here we introduce the method of analysis of minerals in dietary supplements as specified in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States (USP 32), where the supplement market now stands at about three trillion yen (33 billion dollars). As one example, in the case of tablets of oil -and water- soluble vitamins with minerals, the sample preparation and measurement methods are specified for the quantitation of the minerals Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Se, and Zn, in which flame atomic absorption spectroscopy is used for conducting the quantitation.

April 21, 2010 GMT