2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Recovery and Quantification of Folic Acid, D-Calcium Pantothenate, and Ascorbic Acid from Whey Protein Concentrate

Document Type

Student Presentation

Presentation Date

4-19-2024

Faculty Sponsor

Dr. Owen McDougal

Abstract

The nutritional supplement industry is quickly growing due to the increased concern consumers have about their health and nutritional consumption. Combining nutritional intake with convenience has led to the popularity of ready-to-mix (RTM) drinks, which improve the immune system and muscle recovery of consumers. RTM drinks have added vitamins, which degrade throughout the product’s shelf life because of their sensitivity to heat, light, and moisture. Since the FDA mandates nutritional content stated on the product label must meet or exceed the listed value, additional vitamins known as overage are added to combat degradation. A kinetic degradation model has not been established to precisely determine the surplus of vitamins C, B5, and B9 in RTMs. The objective is to create such a model to accurately estimate the excess vitamins required to comply with FDA standards. Currently, the extraction and quantification of these vitamins using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are being optimized. The vitamins are extracted by dissolving the vitamins and whey protein concentrate (WPC) in warm water, adjusting the pH, and centrifuging the solution. As the study continues, the optimized extraction process will be used to investigate the shelf-life of vitamins C, B5, and B9.

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