> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.foodconsumer.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Better Analysis Methods for Vitamin D
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/vitamin_d_0326120429/
- Published: 2012-03-26T18:29:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:25:52.000Z
- Description: USDA chemist Craig Byrdwell at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center developed triple-parallel mass spectrometry and paired liquid chromatographs to measure vitamin D and its metabolites in foods and supplements more precisely.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Vitamins, Nutrition, #vivvo-import

## By [Rosalie Marion Bliss](http://is/contacts.htm?ref=foodconsumer.org#Rosalie+Marion+Bliss)

March 26, 2012

[U.S. Department of Agriculture](http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?ref=foodconsumer.org) (USDA) researchers with the [Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center](http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site%5Fmain.htm?modecode=12-35-00-00&ref=foodconsumer.org) in Beltsville, Md., design, develop and improve analytical methods for measuring nutritional components in the food supply. The Beltsville center is part of the [Agricultural Research Service](http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/main.htm?ref=foodconsumer.org) (ARS), USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.

As featured in a three-part series in the March 2012 issue of [*Agricultural Research*](http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/mar12/index.htm?ref=foodconsumer.org) magazine, the Beltsville center's[Food Composition and Methods Development Laboratory](http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site%5Fmain.htm?modecode=12-35-15-00&ref=foodconsumer.org) is using new spectrometry methods to discover compounds in foods that have never before been documented.

Accurate data on the amount of vitamins and minerals in the U.S. food supply is critical to accurately assessing the intakes of these nutrients in the U.S. population. At the Beltsville center, chemist [Craig Byrdwell](http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=37646&ref=foodconsumer.org) has pioneered new, highly precise methods for analyzing vitamin D in foods and dietary supplements.

Byrdwell found that there are many ways in which multiple instruments that measure molecules can be used in parallel to provide much more information about food samples than single instruments used alone. These molecular mass-measuring instruments are called "mass spectrometers." One of Byrdwell's techniques is "triple-parallel mass spectrometry," in which three mass spectrometers, operating in different modes, are used in parallel.

Byrdwell's experiments also have shown that two systems for separating molecules (liquid chromatographs) can be used in combination to analyze complex food samples for vitamin D and its metabolites. Byrdwell authored a book chapter describing his vitamin D analysis methods, which appears in "[Extreme Chromatography](http://www.aocs.org/Store/ProductDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=16902&ref=foodconsumer.org)," published by[AOCS Press](http://www.aocs.org/Books/?ref=foodconsumer.org) in Champaign, Ill. Byrdwell is also a coeditor of the book, which was published in May 2011.

[Read more](http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/mar12/food0312.htm?ref=foodconsumer.org) about the ARS national program for human nutrition monitoring in *Agricultural Research* magazine's March 2012 issue.