Iodine determination in dietary supplement products by TXRF and ICP-AES spectrometry

About two-thirds of the Hungarian population is living in areas where drinking water contains less than 0.025 mg/L I₂. Iodine is an essential element required for the synthesis of thyroid hormones. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 0.150 mg for adults (WHO 17]). In the case of iodine deficiency mineral water containing iodine and seaweed products could serve as the natural source of this element. In the present study, the capability and limitations of total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission (ICP-AES) spectrometry for the determination of iodine are discussed, in the case of commercially available dietary supplements and differently processed seaweed (kelp) products. Multi-mineral tablets and kelp samples were digested using concentrated nitric acid before analysis. Extraction using a 25% ammonia solution was proved to be effective as an alternative sample preparation procedure for seaweed and dietary supplement tablets containing iodine. Precipitation of silver iodide, as a sample preparation step of mineral water, was applied to prevent loss of volatile iodine during solvent evaporation. ICP-AES measurement was found to be seriously affected by spectral line coincidence between the prominent line of iodine and the adjacent phosphorus line. TXRF was proved to be line coincidence free and suitable for iodine analysis. TXRF determination of iodine in mineral water, in seaweed samples and in dietary supplement tablets has not been reported yet.