Faculty Mentor Information
Dr. Owen McDougal (Mentor), Boise State University
Additional Funding Sources
The project described was supported by American Chemical Society Project SEED, BUILD Dairy, Glanbia Nutritionals, and the NSF Convergence Accelerator Award #2345069.
Abstract
With the growing public use of protein powders and dietary supplements to enhance nutrient intake, accurately quantifying vitamins in fortified foods is becoming increasingly important. Measuring vitamin C in whey protein concentrate (WPC) powder is essential for maintaining nutritional quality and meeting regulatory standards in food. Vitamin degradation over time complicates accurate product labeling and can pose health risks, making reliable methods to monitor vitamin content and predict the necessary overage to meet end-of-shelf-life claims essential. This study aimed to develop an extraction method for this water-soluble vitamin from WPC, using protein precipitation with methanol and hydrochloric acid. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array detection (DAD) at 210 nm was used for analysis. Using our method, we recovered 94.1% of Vitamin C. Extraction of vitamin C from WPC is difficult because the proteins in the sample are detected at the same time and wavelength as the vitamin, this is why protein precipitation was employed.
Vitamin C Extraction from Whey Protein Concentrate
With the growing public use of protein powders and dietary supplements to enhance nutrient intake, accurately quantifying vitamins in fortified foods is becoming increasingly important. Measuring vitamin C in whey protein concentrate (WPC) powder is essential for maintaining nutritional quality and meeting regulatory standards in food. Vitamin degradation over time complicates accurate product labeling and can pose health risks, making reliable methods to monitor vitamin content and predict the necessary overage to meet end-of-shelf-life claims essential. This study aimed to develop an extraction method for this water-soluble vitamin from WPC, using protein precipitation with methanol and hydrochloric acid. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array detection (DAD) at 210 nm was used for analysis. Using our method, we recovered 94.1% of Vitamin C. Extraction of vitamin C from WPC is difficult because the proteins in the sample are detected at the same time and wavelength as the vitamin, this is why protein precipitation was employed.