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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
In the scope of vegetarian diets, cobalamin (CBL or vitamin B12)
remains a particular concern, as it is mostly absent from
natural, vegetarian foods. As such, vegetarians must rely on supplementation or enriched food products, to fulfil their
recommended daily intake of the vitamin. The potential of microalgae is of extreme importance in this context, given the
fact that they may absorb exogenous CBL and display significant levels of the vitamin. Therefore, it is crucial to establish
fast and reliable B12
determination methods, to accurately characterize these products or ingredients and conclude about
their role as CBL sources. To that extent, this work presents the application of the AOAC’s final action method 2014.02
on the determination of total CBL in selected, commercial, microalgae and cyanobacteria powder samples. Four variants
of Chlorella vulgaris, namely organic, smooth, white and honey, as well as Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) were investigated.
High-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet (UV), diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD) was
implemented in the analysis of microalgal extracts. After slight adaptation and optimisation of the extraction and analysis
procedures, namely to allow lower sample amounts, it was determined that the different commercial Chlorella products,
organic, smooth, white and honey have total CBL concentrations of 1063 ± 158 μg (100 g)-1, 482 ± 55 μg (100 g)-1, 681 ±
87 μg (100 g)-1 and 660 ± 68 μg (100 g)-1, respectively. Analysis of Spirulina did not yield any measurable levels of CBL
in any of the purified extracts. Despite the obtained results displaying the same order of magnitude previously determined
in similar microalgal products, these CBL values are amongst the highest concentrations found. Therefore, even considering
the known limitations in bioaccessibility and bioavailability of CBL in microalgae, it is possible to conclude that these
results stand for the inclusion of these products in vegetarian foods or as food supplements, as good potential sources of
CBL, which is generally lacking in vegetarian diets.
Description
Keywords
Cobalamin Vitamin B12 Chlorella vulgaris Arthrospira platensis HPLC
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Santos, A.J.M., Khemiri, S., Simões, S. et al. Determination of cobalamin (Vitamin B12) in selected microalgae and cyanobacteria products by HPLC-DAD. J Appl Phycol 36, 2625–2633 (2024)
Publisher
Springer