A Novel and Rapid Colorimetric Method for Measuring Total Phosphorus and Phytic Acid in Foods and Animal Feeds

• Published in: Journal of AOAC International Vol. 99; no. 3; pp. 738 - 743
• Main Authors: McKie, Vincent A, McCleary, Barry V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.05.2016
• Subjects: Colorimetry; Food; Measurement; Methods; Phosphorus; Phytic acid; Testing
• ISSN: 1060-3271; 1944-7922
• DOI: 10.5740/jaoacint.16-0029

Phytic acid, or myo-inositol hexakisphosphate, is the primary source of inositol and storage phosphorus in plant seeds and has considerable nutritional importance. In this form, phosphorus is unavailable for absorption by monogastric animals, and the strong chelating characteristic of phytic acid reduces the bioavailability of multivalent minerals such as iron, zinc, and calcium. Currently, there is no simple quantitative method for phytic acid; existing methods are complex, and the most commonly accepted method, AOAC Official Method 986.11, has limitations. The aim of this work was to develop and validate a simple, high-throughput method for the measurement of total phosphorus and phytic acid in foods and animal feeds. The method described here involves acid extraction of phytic acid, followed by dephosphorylation with phytase and alkaline phosphatase. The phosphate released from phytic acid is measured using a modified colorimetric molybdenum blue assay and calculated as total phosphorus or phytic acid content of the original sample. The method was validated to a maximum linearity of 3.0 g phytic acid/100 g sample. Accuracy ranged from 98 to 105% using pure phytic acid and from 97 to 115% for spiked samples. Repeatability ranged from 0.81 to 2.32%, and intermediate precision was 2.27%.