Abstract
RP-HPLC method with UV-VIS detection was implemented for determination of contents of lutein in food supplements available on the markets in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary. Altogether, 48 samples of food supplements in three dosage forms (22 samples of tablets, 18 samples of soft capsules, and 8 samples of hard capsules) were analysed. The amounts of lutein specified by the producer complied with their real contents only in 7 samples of the food supplements. Lutein in soft capsules showed the highest stability against oxidation; lutein in tablets was more prone to oxidation and lutein in hard capsules was most susceptible to oxidation process. Out of 21 Czech products, only four fell into the category of satisfactory products, three of them were soft capsules and one was a tablet. Out of 27 products manufactured abroad, only three were evaluated as satisfactory products, all of them were soft capsules, out of 48 analysed food supplement samples just seven fell into the category of satisfactory preparations, eight were evaluated as less satisfactory preparations, five were found inadequate products and 28 samples were labelled unsatisfactory. Only one in six analyzed samples contained the amount of lutein specified by the manufacturer, almost 60% of monitored lutein containing food supplement samples fell into the unsatisfactory product category.
Highlights
Lutein (systematically named (3R,3 ́R,6 ́R)-β, ε-carotene-3,3 ́-diol or 3,3 ́-dihydroxy-α-carotene, see Figure 1), is a yellow plant pigment that belongs to the carotenoid family, namely to xanthophylls
Our study had three goals: i) determination of lutein contents in products available on Czech, Polish, Hungarian and Slovak markets; ii) comparison of lutein quality in various dosage forms like tablets and soft or hard capsules; iii) comparison of quality of lutein containing food supplements manufactured by various producers
We monitored samples of food supplements produced in the form of tablets, soft capsules or hard capsules
Summary
Lutein (systematically named (3R,3 ́R,6 ́R)-β, ε-carotene-3,3 ́-diol or 3,3 ́-dihydroxy-α-carotene, see Figure 1), is a yellow plant pigment that belongs to the carotenoid family, namely to xanthophylls. Our study had three goals: i) determination of lutein contents in products available on Czech, Polish, Hungarian and Slovak markets; ii) comparison of lutein quality in various dosage forms like tablets and soft or hard capsules; iii) comparison of quality of lutein containing food supplements manufactured by various producers. We monitored samples of food supplements produced in the form of tablets, soft capsules or hard capsules. HPLC determination of lutein content Contents of food supplement samples in the form of a tablet or a capsule with average mass of 1 g was dissolved in 50 ml of acetone-methanol solvent (1:1 v/v). The recorded results were processed by ANOVA variance analysis using both statistical Unistat 5.1 software and Office Excel®Microsoft program (Snedecor and Cochran, 1967)
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