DETERMINING TOTAL CONTENT OF Ca, Fe AND Zn IN HIBISCUS SABDARIFFA CALYXES BY USING ATOMIC ABSORBTION SPECTROSCOPY METHOD

Abstract

Hibiscus sabdariffa flower has been gained interest and  widely used as an herb and in producing beverage recently. Determining the content of some trace elements and macronutrients such as Ca, Fe, Zn is important in assessing the nutritional quality of Hibiscus sabdariffa flowers. The content of Ca, Fe and Zn elements in 30 calyxes of Hibiscus  flower samples were analyzed by using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometric method (F-AAS). The results of the analysis by the standard addition method showed that the recovery efficiency of Ca, Fe, and Zn determined by the method F-AAS ranged from 90.62% to 106.24%. Research results showed that the contents of Ca, Fe and Zn in dried Hibiscus sabdariffa calyx samples were 100.30 mg/kg ¸ 250.15 mg/kg; 1.78 ¸ 4.59 mg/kg và 1.60 ¸ 3.78 mg/kg, respectively. The content of, Fe and Zn elements in the calyxes of Hibiscus sabdariffa flower samples collected at the studying sites meets the safety standards of the allowed content of those elements according to WHO standards.