Analysis of vitamin E by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and pH in commercial cat food

Vitamin E is classified into fat soluble vitamins. Vitamin E has different roles and is vital in metabolism and can cause health problems when they are either lacking or in excess. The objective of this experiment is to analyze the vitamin E content and pH of different brands of wet and dry commercial cat foods (premium, normal, and economy) on cat's health. The wet and dry cat food samples were analyzed under three brands treatments with 10 replications. Samples analysis from the three different treatments was measured through laboratory test. The parameters that were measured are vitamin E content (mg) and pH content. The data were analyzed using analysis of variance to determine whether there are differences between the types of brand for the amount of vitamin E and pH content at probability level 0.05, 0.01 and 0.001. Based on the studies found that the vitamin E content of wet and dry samples were not significantly different at 0.05, 0.01 and 0.001 probability level in different brand types. The average content of vitamin E was much higher in dry samples compared to wet samples in 1 g cat food samples. All the samples were followed minimum AAFCO Standard level where all the determined values of vitamin E per gram sample above 0.02 mg. The effect of vitamin E deficiency in cats has been associated with depression and anorexia, hyperesthesia on palpation of the ventral abdomen, and nodular adipose tissue. Meanwhile, excessive intake of vitamin E results in growth depression, increased prothrombin time and depressed bone calcification. pH content in wet samples showed no significant difference with the different brand types. While pH content in dry samples were significant at the three probability level in different brand types. It was shown that the average pH content of wet cat food samples was higher than dry cat food samples. A higher pH leads to the growth of Struvites crystals and affects cat's health. The acidification of urine could increase the risk of calcium oxalate formation.