Nutritional Assessment of Amino Acids in Phytogenic Mixtures

Abstract

Amino acids are fundamental building blocks of proteins and directly influence the biological value of food products. They are essential for human growth, metabolism, and health, which makes their quantitative analysis an important part of nutritional assessment. In this work, we examined the amino acid composition of a phytogenic mixture prepared from hazelnut, cinnamon, and barberry using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). A Shimadzu LC-MS 2020 instrument was employed in SIM mode without derivatisation, which allowed the sensitive and selective determination of 20 amino acids in the extract. The method showed good linearity (R² ≥ 0.995) and repeatability (RSD ≤ 3%), confirming its suitability for nutritional studies. The analysis revealed the presence of both essential and non-essential amino acids. Among them, lysine (1.555 g/100 g), glutamine (1.482 g/100 g), glycine (1.149 g/100 g), and proline (1.216 g/100 g) were the most abundant. The balanced distribution of amino acids suggests that the mixture has valuable nutritional potential and could serve as a complementary ingredient in plant-based diets. Overall, the findings demonstrate not only the usefulness of LC–MS for rapid profiling of amino acids in complex plant matrices but also the promise of phytogenic mixtures as candidates for dietary diversification and functional food development.