QINGHUA YAN¹*, LI YANG^2,3, GUOXI XI³, JIANWEI ZHANG², YINGYING GAO²
*Corresponding author
1. Department of Life Science and Technology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang Henan 453003, P.R. China
2. Department of Experimental Center, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang Henan 453003, P.R. China
3. School of Environment, Henan Normal University, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, Xinxiang, Henan 453007, P. R. China

Abstract

This paper describes a simple method for the determination of seven mineral elements in human nutrition by using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) in edible nut samples. Prior to analysis, decomposition of samples was carried out in a microwave digestion system. In order to verify the accuracy and precision of the proposed method, GBW 07604-Poplar leaves were analyzed. The precision and accuracy of determinations were verified through standard addition experiment. The results indicated that the eight samples analyzed were abundant in mineral elements. Magnesium and calcium were major mineral elements, copper, manganese and nickel were found to be low.

INTRODUCTION

Foods are one of the main sources of mineral elements for human body. Most of metal ions present in foods are bound to specific proteins or enzymes and exert their effects as active or structural centers, command process such as catalysts, substrate binding and activation, transportation and storage (1, 2). Essential mineral elements such as Cu and Zn play an important role in human biology, because they are inadequately or not synthesized in the body (3). Nuts also are called caryopsis, nuts are complex plant foods that are not only rich sources of unsaturated fat (e.g. linolenic acid and linoleic acid), but also contain several nonfat constituents such as plant protein, fiber, micronutrients, plant sterols, and phytochemicals (4-6). Nuts are a very valuable traditional food associated with reduction of human growth and development, maintaining physical fitness, disease prevention (7, 8). The chemical analysis of Chinese edible nuts is not trivial due to their complex matrix. In general, nutritional properties are characterized by both the abundance and bioavailability of essential nutrients (9, 10). In this way, mineral elements are of par ...