Simultaneous determination of semi‐essential nutrients taurine, l‐carnitine and choline in infant formulas and adult/pediatric nutritional formulas by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography‐electrospray ionization‐tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

[EN] BACKGROUND: The nutritional intake of formula-fed newborns is often limited to a single source, so it must be supplemented with essential nutrients for the growth and proper development of infants. Taurine, L-carnitine, and choline are considered conditionally essential nutrients especially in newborns and infants. RESULTS: In this work, a simple routine hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-ESI-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of these semiessential nutrients in infant and adult/pediatric milk formulas. The extraction recoveries were between 90% and 114%. Precision of the method offered relative standard deviation below 5% and 7% for intra-day and inter-day precision, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to quantification of taurine, L-carnitine, and choline in milk formula. The contents found were in good agreement with those provided on the product label for almost all samples. CONCLUSION: In view of these results, it can be concluded that the developed method can be a useful approach for the simultaneous determination of taurine, L-carnitine and choline in powdered milk samples, so it can be useful in the routine quality control of this kind of samples.