Analysis of Dietary Supplements for Arsenic, Cadmium, Mercury, and Lead Using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

TLDR

The study assesses estimated exposures of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead from dietary supplements. The authors quantified 95 supplement products by microwave digestion followed by high‑resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, validating accuracy with recoveries from 17 supplements and eight reference materials. Measured concentrations ranged from <5 to 3,770 µg/kg for arsenic, <10 to 368 µg/kg for cadmium, <80 to 16,800 µg/kg for mercury, and <20 to 48,600 µg/kg for lead. Keywords: dietary supplements, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead, microwave digestion, high‑resolution ICP‑MS.

Abstract

The arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead contents of 95 dietary supplement products were determined using microwave digestion and high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Precision and accuracy were demonstrated by element recovery from 17 dietary supplements and replicates of 8 reference materials. The concentration ranges were as follows: arsenic, <5−3770 μg/kg; cadmium, <10−368 μg/kg; mercury, <80−16800 μg/kg; and lead, <20−48600 μg/kg. An assessment of estimated exposures/intakes of the four elements is presented. Keywords: Dietary supplements; arsenic; cadmium; mercury; lead; microwave digestion; high-resolution ICP-MS