Sterols in infant formulas: validation of a gas chromatographic method

Abstract

Sterols are components present in the fat fraction of infant formulas (IFs). Their characterization is therefore of interest, though there are no official reference methods for their analysis in these matrices.

Aim: To validate a gas chromatographic method with flame ionization detection for the determination of animal (cholesterol and desmosterol) and plant sterols (brassicasterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, β-sitosterol and sitostanol) found in IFs.

All correlation coefficients obtained for the calibration curves of sterols studied were >0.99. Limits of detection (<1 μg/100 mL) and quantification (<4 μg/100 mL) are suitable for sterols determination in IFs. The within-assay precision ranged from 1.6% to 8.8%, while the between-assay precision was <10% for most of sterols. Accuracy was satisfactory and was calculated by recovery assays (ranging 93–108%). The analytical parameters obtained showed the suitability of the proposed method for the determination of sterols in IFs.

Keywords:

• Cholesterol
• infant formula
• plant sterols
• method validation
• gas chromatography

Acknowledgements

Authors thank Hero Spain, S.A. for providing the samples.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work belongs to a CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial) project granted to Hero Spain, S.A. Lorena Claumarchirant is the holder of a fellowship from this company.