Elemental Analysis of Amaranth, Chia, Sesame, Linen, and Quinoa Seeds by ICP-OES: Assessment of Classification by Chemometrics

Abstract

Received: 17 March 2015 /Accepted: 1 June 2015# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015Abstract In this work, 26 elements (Ag, Al, As, B, Ba, Ca,Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Ga, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Pb, Rb, Se, Si,Sr, Ti, V, and Zn) were analyzed by inductively coupled plasmaoptical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) in seed samples:amaranth, chia, sesame, linen, and quinoa. Elemental analysisshowed the presence of toxic elements (As, Cd, and Pb), aswell as high mineral content (Fe, Na, P, K, and Mg): Theconcentrations of toxic elements were below the permissiblelimits by the WHO. Chemometrics was performed by clusteranalysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA), and partialleast squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). In all cases,a correct classification of each type of seed was obtained. Thecombination of elemental analysis (major, minor, and toxicelements) and chemometrics was useful to determine nutritionalquality in the studied seeds, as well as to classify themaccording to the botanical origin. For that, this method can beuseful for the analysis of raw material as quality control infood factories and government control labs.