Vitamins In Focus

Food items, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, feed and, also recently, textiles ­ the spectrum of occurrence and supplementation of vitamins is broad and constantly growing.

Not all of the nutritional physiological aspects of these life essential micro-nutrients have been researched nor have their medical potential been completely exhausted. For this reason, the joint agreement reached by German, Swiss and Austrian committees concerning reference values for vitamin intake is welcome. Therefore, vitamins represent a constantly growing future market which must consider the high quality expected by consumers. The time is now past that vitamin content signifies a sales guarantee.

Convincing quality requires precise analysis during production control. In order for this to be accomplished for many fat and water soluble vitamins and their derivatives a wide spectrum of chemical and microbiological methods of analysis must be available. Because on European and international levels there are no existing full scope standardised methods or the methods are yet in development, the knowledge and command of classical as well as modern means of vitamin analysis is necessary.

The Institut Fresenius AG laboratory for vitamin analysis has succeeded in mastering these procedures and is thereby one of the few accredited laboratories in the world that can offerthe complete range of vitamin analysis. Its microbiological as well as the HPLC Lab are almost solely dedicated to questions on vitamin analysis. Certain substances that are not vitamins by strict definition but are considered to be vitamin like such as choline, inositol and taurine can also be detected using appropriate methods.

The routine methods are strictly observed and controlled. The most recent example would be the biotine analysis in food, feed and food supplements. In addition to the microbiological detection methods currently used, a second quantitative microbiological assay was established and validated in a dissertation. Through a complex base of test attempts several fault components, which can commonly be expected to be found in test samples, were examined in order to determine their influence on test results. This resulted in the development of two equally effective biotine tests that can be used against each other as control factors in problem cases.

Progress in nutritional physiology is carefully followed so that well established analytical methods are available if required. Named among the most recent to gain popularity are palettes of carotenoids, tocotrienoles and ubiquinone. Also, the bioflavonoids group ­ a favourite key word used in light of new nutrition philosophies ­ will be processed by the Institut Fresenius AG vitamin laboratory in the future. Technically complex investigations also in the periphery of the vitamin analytic, which are considered frequently as reserved for research, can also be accomplished in the Vitamin lab at Institut Fresenius AG Thus research and development along with precise routine analytics belong without question to these laboratories.

enquiry no 8

Institut Fresenius AG is based in Taunusstein, Germany. www.fresenius.com

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