Control of the quality of creatine sports supplements using a validated LC method with UV detection

Abstract

Creatine is a popular supplement which has considerable advantages for athletes’ function and human health. It improves brain function, improve exercise performance and speed up muscle growth. Creatine is the number one supplement for enhancing exercise performance in the gym. In this work, a simple and validated HPLC approach was introduced for the assessment of creatine in sports supplements and its comparison with the label information. The method was based on a reversed-phase HPLC in which the analyte elution and separation was done in an isocratic mode using deionized water adjusted at pH=3 and UV detection. The lower limit of quantification of the method was 1 mg/L. The inter- and intra-day RSDs as well as accuracy were less than 5%. In this study, totally 36 sports supplement samples containing creatine monohydrate were analyzed. Proposed methodology was found to be suitable for the fast assessment of creatine products available in Iranian market.

Keywords

• Creatine
• HPLC
• Validation
• Quality control