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Home ›› About Speciation ›› Speciation News

Chemical speciation analysis for nutrition and food science

(14.04.2014)

The enhanced information obtained by chemical speciation analysis is not only a prerequisite for the evaluation of the nutritional value or the assessment of health risk related to toxic species in foodstuffs, but it is also a useful tool in food characterization.

One of the major topics for evaluating the nutritional value of food is the bioavailability of nutrients, minerals and trace elements. Since the bioavailability depends strongly on the chemical speciation of the target nutrient, chemical speciation analysis or at least fractionation analysis with respect to bioavailability is a important task in food analysis. The bioavailability also depends on the interaction of the target compounds with other ingredients of the foodstuffs. To study such interactions, binding partners, complexing reactions and species transformation, chemical analysis has to provide data on the chemical compounds as they are present. Speciation analysis (or sometimes fractionation analysis) is therefore used for the enhanced characterisation of food products with respect to their nutritional value (minerals in food, e.g. bioavailability of Fe, Ca, Zn, Se, Co, Cr- species).

Another topic in food analysis is the risk assessment of contaminants and other toxic species. Since the toxicity of trace elements such as mercury, arsenic or lead heavily depends on their speciation, only speciation analysis provides the required information for a meaningful evaluation of health risks related to the presence of such potentially toxic species. The EVISA News (see below) provide an overview of the hot topics discussed during the last 20 years. Review articles may guide the interested reader towards the relevant literature:

Reviews related to chemical speciation analysis for food analysis (newest first)

Adrian Gołębiowski, Reda Dzingelevičienė, Rita Vaičekauskaitė, Bogusław Buszewski, Selected hazardous elements in food: Chemical analysis including speciation and biological properties, Food Chem., 494 (2025) 146084. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.146084

A.R. López, E. Ortega-Caneda, E. Espada-Bellido, D. Spanu, M. Zava, D. Monticelli, Decoding trace element speciation in mushrooms: Analytical techniques, comprehensive data review, and health aimplications, Food Chem., 463/4 (2025) 141460. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.141460

Stephen W.C. Chung, Feasible approaches for arsenic speciation analysis in foods for dietary exposre assessment: a review, Food Addit. Contam. A, 42/3 (2025) 342-358. DOI: 10.1080/19440049.2025.2449663

Stephen W.C. Chung, Update on chromium speciation analysis in foods: a review of advances in analytical methods and dietary exposure assessment, Food Addit. Contam. A, 41/7 (2024) 782-789. DOI: 10.1080/19440049.2024.2352858

A.T. Lepage, B. Laird, K. Skinner, J.M. Gunn, G.L. Lescord, A review of arsenic speciation in freshwater fish: perspectives on monitoring approaches and analytical methods, Environ. Rev. (ottawa), 32/4 (2024) 539.556. DOI: 10.1139/er-2024-0011

Bashdar Abuzes Sadee, Yaseen Galali, Salih M.S. Zebari, Recent developments in speciation and determination of arsenic in marine organisms using different analytical techniques: A review, RSC Adv., 14/30 (2024) 21563-89. DOI: 10.1039/d4ra03000a

Zuzana Gajdosechova, Katrin Loeschner, Nanoparticles as a younger member of the trace element species family — a food perspective, Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 2023. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-023-04940-z

Bashdar Abuzed Sadee, Yaseen Galalia, Salih M. S. Zebari, Toxicity, arsenic speciation and characteristics of hyphenated techniques used for arsenic determination in vegetables. A review, RSC Adv., 13/44 (2023) 30959. DOI: 10.1039/d3ra05770d

Karen S. Hoy, Tetiana Davydiuk, Xiaojian Chen, Chester Lau, Jordan R. M. Schofield, Xiufen Lu, Jennifer A. Graydon, Ruth Mitchell, Megan Reichert, X. Chris Le, Arsenic speciation in freshwater fish: challenges and research needs, Food Quality and Safety, 7 (2023) 1–25. DOI: 10.1093/fqsafe/fyad032

Davide Coniglio, Giovanni Ventura, Cosima D. Calvano, Ilario Losito, Tommaso R.I. Cataldi, Strategies for the analysis of arsenolipids in marine foods: A review, J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal., 235 (2023) 115628. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2023.115628

Ingrid Hagarová, Lucia Nemcek, Reliable Quantification of Ultratrace Selenium in Food, Beverages, and Water Samples by Cloud Point Extraction and Spectrometric Analysis, Nutrients, 14 (2022) 3530. DOI: 10.3390/nu14173530

Zhiping Jiang, Zhizhang Tian, Chuntao Zhang, Dengke Li, Ruoxin Wu, Nan Tian, Lixia Xing, Lichao Ma, Recent Advances in Speciation Analyses of Tobacco and other Important Economic Crops, Curr. Anal. Chem., 18 (2022) 518-528. DOI: 10.2174/1573411017999201201115234

W. Lorenc, A. Hanc, A. Sajnog, D. Baralkiewicz, LC/ICP-MS and Complementary Techniques in Bespoke and Nontargeted Speciation Analysis of Elements in Food Samples, Mass Spectrom. Rev., 2020. DOI: 10.1002/mas.21662

Caleb Luvonga, Catherine A. Rimmer, Lee L. Yu, Sang Bok Lee, Analytical Methodologies for the Determination of Organoarsenicals in Edible Marine Species: A Review, J. Agric. Food Chem., 68 (2020) 1910−1934. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.9b04525

Michéal Mac Monagail, Liam Morrison, Arsenic speciation in a variety of seaweeds and associated food products, Comprehensive Analytical Chemistry, 85 (2019) 267-310. DOI: 10.1016/bs.coac.2019.03.005

Elliott M. Hamilton, Scott D. Young, Elizabeth H. Bailey, Michael J. Watts, Chromium speciation in foodstuffs: A review, Food Chem., 250 (2018) 105-112. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.01.016

F. Seby, V. Vacchina, Critical assessment of hexavalent chromium species from different solid environmental, industrial and food matrices, Trends Anal. Chem., 104 (2018) 54-68. DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2017.11.019

Patricia Smichowski, Agustín Londonio, The role of analytical techniques in the determination of metals and metalloids in dietary supplements: A review, Microchem. J., 136 (2018) 113-120. DOI: 10.1016/j.microc.2016.11.007

Stephen W.C. Chung, Andy H.T. Wu, Determination of butyltins, phenyltins and octyltins in foods with preservation of their moieties: A critical review on analytical methods, J. Chromatogr. A, 1505 (2017) 18-34. DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2017.05.014

Toni Llorente-Mirandes, Roser Rubio, and José Fermín López-Sánchez, Inorganic Arsenic Determination in Food: A Review of Analytical Proposals and Quality Assessment Over the Last Six Years, Appl. Spectrosc., 71/1 (2017) 25–69. DOI: 10.1177/0003702816652374

Francesco Cubadda, Brian P. Jackson, Kathryn L. Cottingham, Yoshira Ornelas Van Horne, Margaret Kurzius-Spencer, Human exposure to dietary inorganic arsenic and other arsenic species: State of knowledge, gaps and uncertainties, Sci. Tot. Environ., 579 (2017) 1228-1239. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.108

María Pilar Chantada-Vázquez, Antonio Moreda-Piñeiro, María Carmen Barciela-Alonso, Pilar Bermejo-Barrera, Spectrometric-based techniques for metalbinding protein assessment in clinical, environmental, and food samples, Appl. Spectrosc. Rev., 52/2 (2017) 145-174, DOI: 10.1080/05704928.2016.1213736

Malgorzata Bodnar, Marzena Szczyglowska, Piotr Konieczka, Jacek Namiesnik, Methods of Selenium Supplementation: Bioavailability and Determination of Selenium Compounds, Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr., 56/1 (2016) 36-55. DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2012.709550

Asta H. Petursdottir, Jens J. Sloth, Jörg Feldmann, Introduction of regulations for arsenic in feed and food with emphasis on inorganic arsenic, and implications for analytical chemistry, Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 407 (2015) 8385–8396. DOI 10.1007/s00216-015-9019-1

W.A. Maher, M.J. Ellwood, F. Krikowa, G. Raber, S. Foster, Measurement of arsenic species in environmental, biological fluids and food samples by HPLC-ICPMS and HPLC-HG-AFS, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 30/10 (2015) 2129-2183. DOI: 10.1039/c5ja00155b

Sergio L.C. Ferreira, Valfredo A. Lemos, Laiana O.B. Silva, Antonio F.S. Queiroz, Anderson S. Souza, Erik G.P. da Silva, Walter N.L. dos Santos, Cesário F. das Virgens, Analytical strategies of sample preparation for the determination of mercury in food matrices — A review, Microchem. J. , 121 (2015) 227–236. DOI: 10.1016/j.microc.2015.02.012

Bashdar Sadee, M.E. Foulkes, S.J. Hill, Coupled techniques for arsenic speciation in food and drinking water: a review, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 30 (2015) 102-118. DOI: 10.1039/c4ja00269e

Heather N. Lynch, Grace I. Greenberg, Margaret C. Pollock, Ari S. Lewis, A comprehensive evaluation of inorganic arsenic in food and considerations for dietary intake analyses, Sci. Total Environ., 496 (2014) 299–313. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-015-9019-1

Fang-Jie Zhao, Yong-Guan Zhu, Andrew A. Meharg, Methylated Arsenic Species in Rice: Geographical Variation, Origin, and Uptake Mechanisms, Environ. Sci. Technol. 47 (2013) 3957-3966. DOI: 10.1021/es304295n

Julian Tyson, The Determination of Arsenic Compounds: A Critical Review, ISRN Anal. Chem., 2013 (2013) ID 835371. DOI: 10.1155/2013/835371

Katarzyna Bierla, Joanna Szpunar, Alexandros Yiannikouris, Ryszard Lobinski, Comprehensive speciation of selenium in selenium-rich yeast, Trends Anal. Chem., 41 (2012) 122-132. DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2012.08.006

Rola Bou Khouzam, Joanna Szpunar, Michel Holeman, Ryszard Lobinski, Trace element speciation in food: State of the art of analytical techniques and methods, Pure Appl. Chem., 84/2 (2012) 169–179. doi: 10.1351/PAC-CON-11-08-14

Veronika Sele, Jens J. Sloth, Anne-Katrine Lundebye, Erik H. Larsen, Marc H.G. Berntssen, Heidi Amlund, Arsenolipids in marine oils and fats: A review of occurrence, chemistry and future research needs, Food Chem., 133 (2012) 618–630. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.02.004

Lena Ruzik, Speciation of challenging elements in food by atomic spectrometry, Talanta, 93 (2012) 18–31. DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2012.01.066

Anne-Marie Carey, Enzo Lombi, Erica Donner, Martin D. de Jonge, Tracy Punshon, Brian P. Jackson, Mary Lou Guerinot, Adam H. Price, Andrew A. Meharg, A review of recent developments in the speciation and location of arsenic and selenium in rice grain, Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 402 (2012) 3275–3286. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-011-5579-x

Stéphanie Clémens, Mathilde Monperrus, Olivier F.X. Donard, David Amouroux, Thierry Guérin, Mercury speciation in seafood using isotope dilution analysis: A review, Talanta, 89 (2012) 12–20. DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2011.12.064

Maja Welna, Anna Szymczycha-Madeja, Ewelina Stelmach, Pawel Pohl, Speciation and Fractionation of Elements in Tea Infusions, Crit. Rev. Anal. Chem., 42/4 (2012) 349-365. DOI: 10.1080/10408347.2012.694730

M. Azizur Rahman, H. Hasegawa, High levels of inorganic arsenic in rice in areas where arsenic-contaminated water is used for irrigation and cooking, Sci. Total Environ., 409 (2011) 4645–4655. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.07.068

Jörg Feldmann, Eva M. Krupp, Critical review or scientific opinion paper: Arsenosugars—a class of benign arsenic species or justification for developing partly speciated arsenic fractionation in foodstuffs?, Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 399 (2011) 1735–1741. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-010-4303-6

Jorge Moreda-Piñeiro, Antonio Moreda-Piñeiro, Vanessa Romarís-Hortas, Carmen Moscoso-Pérez, Purificación López-Mahía, Soledad Muniategui-Lorenzo, Pilar Bermejo-Barrera, Darío Prada-Rodríguez, In-vivo and in-vitro testing to assess the bioaccessibility and the bioavailability of arsenic, selenium and mercury species in food samples, Trends Anal. Chem., 30/2 (2011) 324-345. DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2010.09.008

Claudia Niegel, Frank-Michael Matysik, Analytical methods for the determination of arsenosugars—A review of recent trends and developments, Anal. Chim. Acta, 657 (2010) 83–99. DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2009.10.041

Krystyna Pyrzynska, Selenium speciation in enriched vegetables, Food Chemistry 114 (2009) 1183–1191. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.11.026

Zoyne Pedrero, Yolanda Madrid, Novel approaches for selenium speciation in foodstuffs and biological specimens: A review, Anal. Chim. Acta, 634 (2009) 135–152. DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2008.12.026

Jorge G. Ibanez, Alejandra Carreon-Alvarez, Maximiliano Barcena-Soto, Norberto Casillas, Metals in alcoholic beverages: A review of sources, effects, concentrations, removal, speciation, and analysis, J. Food Compos. Anal., 21 (2008) 672–683. DOI: 10.1016/j.jfca.2008.06.005

Krystyna Pyrzynska, Chemical speciation and fractionation of metals in wine, Chem, Speciation Bioavailability, 19/1 (2007) 1-8. DOI: 10.3184/095422907X198040

Stephen G. Capar, William R. Mindak, John Cheng, Analysis of food for toxic elements, Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 389 (2007) 159–169. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-007-1433-6

Francesco Cubadda, Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry for the
Determination of Elements and Elemental Species in Food: A Review, J. AOAC Int., 87/1 (2004) 173-204. DOI:10.1093/jaoac/87.1.173

J. Meija, S. Mounicou, J.A. Caruso, Plasma Spectrometry for Elemental Speciation and Characterization in Beverages, J. AOAC Int., 87/1 (2004) 205-224. DOI: 10.1093/jaoac/87.1.205