Simultaneous Estimation of Pro-vitamin A (β-carotene), Vitamin A (Retinol), and Anthocyanins (Peonidin and Cyanidin) in Biofortified Sweet Potato Varieties Using UFLC-MS/MS
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Abstract
Introduction: Sweet potatoes, a nutrient-dense crop are recognized as a potential functional food to mitigate an array of nutritional disorders. In India, sweet potato is considered a secondary staple crop due to its unique nutritional properties. Owing to its high consumption, food interventions like biofortification have been made to enrich the essential bioactive compounds (carotenoids and anthocyanins).
Objectives: The current study aims to develop and validate an optimized UFLC-MS/MS based analytical method for the simultaneous estimation of pro-vitamin A, vitamin A, and anthocyanins in two biofortified sweet potato varieties (Bhu-Krishna & Bhu-Sona).
Methods: A high throughput robust UFLC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for assaying enriched carotenoid content and anthocyanin content in two biofortified and one unfortified sweet potato varieties.
Results: The linearity range was 400 to 2000 ng/mL for cyanidin chloride, 850 to 3000 ng/mL for peonidin 3-glucoside, 900 to 3500 ng/mL for β-carotene and 60 to 500 ng/mL for retinol. Furthermore, the extraction process was optimized for beta carotene and anthocyanins from the sweet potato samples with an extraction efficiency of more than 85%.
Conclusion: The currently developed method was validated using ICH guidelines (Q2R1) and can be applicable in sweet potato quantification and in vitro digestion studies for determining the bioaccessibility, evaluate stability and access the nutrient interactions.