Simultaneous determination of selected anti-nutritional components in Asiatic plants using ion chromatography

Anti-nutritional components such as: oxalates, thiocyanates and phytic acid were determined in 20 plants samples originated from Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda (e.g., Andrographis paniculata, Angelica sinensis, Emblica officinalis, Withania somnifera, Polygonum multiflorum, Bacopa monnieri, Pueraria lobata, Cola accuminata, Curcuma longa, Ocimum sanctum, Mucuna pruriens, Garcinia cambogia, Panax ginseng, Bupleurum sinensis, Salviae miltiorrhizae, Schisandra sinensis, Terminalia arjuna). Extraction and analysis procedures for these anti-nutritional components determination were modified and optimized. Water-soluble oxalates, thiocyanates and phytic acid were simultaneously determined by new procedure with ion chromatography method, resulting in analyzed samples: 0.38-145.39 mg 100 g(-1) dry mass (d.m.) for oxalates, 0.94-34.34 mg 100 g(-1) d.m. for thiocyanates, whereas 0.42-16.13 mg 100 g(-1) d.m. for phytic acid. The highest of the total content of anti-nutritional components was observed for the O. sanctum, but the lowest for C. longa. Moreover, oxalates and phytic acid were determined by titration, whereas thiocyanates by spectrophotometric method.