Abstract

“Dietary food for special medical purposes” is defined as the foodstuffs that are specifically produced or formulated and consumed under medical supervision with the aim of establishing diets of patients. These foods labeled and marketed are generally liquid or powder products formulated to meet specific needs. The objective of this research was to quantitative determination vitamin B₆ (pyridoxine) in dietary foods for special medical purposes by the use of microbiological assay method. To this end, the quantity of vitamin B₆ in total 36 liquid dietary foods for special medical purposes was determined by disc inoculum method of microbiological assay using Neurospora sitophilaATCC 9276. The response of the organism to pyridoxine was determined by measuring the zone diameter of growth surrounding the inoculum disc, and the amount of vitamin B₆from these foods ranged from 0.12 mg/100 mL to 0.76 mg/100 mL. In the statistical evaluation, the results were evaluated according to independent samples T-test. It was observed that the values determined for these foods were similar to the values declared on the labels of the foods. The results of the study have indicated that quantitative determination of vitamin B₆ in the foods can be achieved by the use of microbiological assay method. Also, it is approved that the values of vitamin B₆ declared on the labels of foods are accurate.

Key words: Dietary food for special medical purposes, vitamin B₆ (pyridoxine), microbiological method.