Determination of β-Hydroxy-β-Methylbutyrate Content in Food Raw Materials by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

An analytical method based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed for the determination of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) content in food raw materials. The quantitative detection was performed by HPLC on diode array detector mode under external standard method. The limits of quantification, calculated as 10 times the standard deviation, were 2.0 g/100 g. The average recoveries were in the range of 92.3%-101%, with relative standard deviations below 3.87%, measured at three concentration levels. This method was used to determine the purity of HMB in 10 commercially available food raw materials. The real sample analysis results showed that the content and measurement uncertainties of HMB were 77.1-81.8 g/100 g and 4.51-4.68 g/100 g respectively, which met the requirement of HMB content in the range of 77-82 g/100 g in the HMB announcement. There are no studies on the detection of HMB in food raw materials in the previous reports. The established method provided reference for the rapid quantification and purity analysis of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate in food raw materials.