A method for the rapid determination of 11 medical components found in health foods for weight loss using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) has been developed. HPLC separation is performed on an ODS column with the gradient elution method. The mobile phase consists of two solvents. Solvent A is water and solvent B is methanol/acetonitrile (1 : 1), and both contain 0.1% formic acid and 5 mmol/l of ammonium acetate. Each medical component is analyzed with multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) in both negative and positive modes through electrospray ionization (ESI). The recovery rates of the 11 medical components added to commercially available health foods were 46.3-114% and each coefficient of variation was 13.7% or less. It was confirmed that this method is applicable to the urgent analysis of health foods that have caused damage to health.
