Abstract

Dietary supplements composed by the combination of a calcium salt with cholecalciferol (vitamin D₃) are widely used for improving bone health in conditions caused by the deficiency of these compounds in the body. Historically, these supplements have been linked to quality and safety issues. In the case of calcium salts, the presence of potentially toxic contaminants such as lead (Pb) has already been alerted by health authorities from different countries. Meanwhile, cholecalciferol is very unstable under inadequate manufacturing and storage conditions. The content of both compounds in commercial dietary supplements is often found to be in disagreement with the label claims, which can lead to a deficient or excessive nutrient intake by consumers. In this scenario, analyzing these compounds is still a difficult and time-consuming task, which usually requires specific pretreatment procedures and multiple analytical methods due to the inorganic nature of calcium and the organic nature of cholecalciferol. Therefore, this article reviews the analytical methods, described in official compendia and scientific literature, for the determination of calcium salts and cholecalciferol in dietary supplement formulations. We also approached the sample preparation procedures highly required due to the matrix complexity of these materials.

摘要

由钙盐与胆钙化醇（维生素 D ₃) 被广泛用于改善因体内缺乏这些化合物而引起的骨骼健康。从历史上看，这些补充剂与质量和安全问题有关。就钙盐而言，不同国家的卫生当局已经警告存在潜在的有毒污染物，如铅 (Pb)。同时，胆钙化醇在不适当的制造和储存条件下非常不稳定。商业膳食补充剂中两种化合物的含量经常被发现与标签上的声明不一致，这可能导致消费者摄入不足或过多的营养。在这种情况下，分析这些化合物仍然是一项艰巨且耗时的任务，由于钙的无机性质和胆钙化醇的有机性质，通常需要特定的预处理程序和多种分析方法。因此，本文回顾了官方药典和科学文献中描述的用于测定膳食补充剂配方中钙盐和胆钙化醇的分析方法。由于这些材料的基质复杂性，我们还处理了非常需要的样品制备程序。