In Westernized cultures, dietary supplements have been gaining popularity in recent years. In China, traditional herbal supplements have been used for millennia. In both cases, the threat of adulteration and need for further characterization of ingredients have been driving forces behind the need for increased screening. This note presents a new approach to the rapid screening of a product marketed as an herbal weight loss aid and the fingerprint characterization of omega fatty acid dietary supplements derived from marine and flaxseed oils.

In this work, the oligo- and polysaccharide distribution of three different inulin samples has been characterized by HPAE-PAD. In addition, HPAE-PAD profiling was demonstrated as a method to determine FOS content in prebiotic samples and variation in prebiotics on addition of probiotics. We used Inulin-FOS and chicory root inulin as prebiotic samples. For probiotics, we used Yakult drink, a well known probiotic dairy product. In this method, separation of individual oligosaccharides in FOS was achieved on a Dionex CarboPac PA200 column. An ICS-6000 can be used for this application.

This record shows the rapid, rugged HPAE-PAD method for determining glucosamine in dietary supplement tablets, gelatin capsules, and fortified liquids that was published in Application Note 197. In this record the method is executed on an Integrion ion chromatography system.

Choline and acetylcholine are quaternary ammonium cations which are noted for their activities as neurotransmitters. This is an older application note that shows these compounds can be determined by IC. Today we would probably use an IonPac CS19 column as shown in Application Update 189.

Cranberry powder contains organic acids, proanthocyanidins, and polyphenols. Organic acids in cranberries impart flavors and their specific ratios can be used to detect adulteration. Although inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) is the most common approach for determining nutritional elements in cranberry powder, ion chromatography (IC) is a feasible alternate approach. In addition to determining sodium in cranberry powder, IC can also be used to determine other important components that cannot be determined by ICP-OES (e.g., organic acids).